
Class. 



Book 



PRESENTED BY 



Pf«(VA^I«-UAffAliy 



NO, 



■"■-•' •"^gsnir 




Mrs E-mma Hardinge Britten 




NEW Y@RKC: 
MDCCCLXX 



MODERN 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALIS 



A TWENTY YEARS' RECORD 



COMMUNION BETWEEN EARTH AND THE 
WORLD OF SPIRITS. 



BY EMMA (HARDINGEj /X 



I 

/^-\ , I / i^ (fourth edition.) 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 

229 KAST SIXTIETH STREET. 

Trade supplied by the American News Co., 117-121 Nassau Street, N. Y., or 
"Banner of Light" Office, 15S Washington St., Boston, Mass. 

MDCCCLXX. 



l\ 






V 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

EMMA HARDINGE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New Yoi 



|3 JS-4\y.*X,-s-<i • ''• 



The New- York Printing Company, 
81, S3, 85, Centre Street. 









DEDICATION. 



To THE Wise and Mighty Beings through whose Instrumentality 

THE Spiritual Telegraph of the Nineteenth Century 

has been Constructed ; 

To THE Beneficent and Powerful Spirits through whose Sublime 

Labors the Immortal World can Commune with the 

Mortal Dwellers of Earth ; 

This Brief, Fragmentary, and most Imperfect Record of their 
Divine Ministration, undertaken at their Command, and 
executed under their Supervision, is Reverently 
and Gratefully Inscribed by their Faith- 
ful and Devoted Medium, 

EMMA HARDINGE. 



New York City, 

229 East 60th Street. 
December 15th, 1869. 



^ 






TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGES 
9-14 

Preface 

Introduction -"The Truth Against THE World." 15-^9 

CHAPTER I. 

21—27 
The First Spiritual Telegraph. 

CHx\PTER II. 
" And There Shall be No More Death." 27-3 

CHAPTER III. 
The First Spiritual Telegraph with Earth 36-42 

CHAPTER IV. 
The First Public Investigation of Spiritualism 42-54 



Spiritualism in Auburn. 



CHAPTER V. 
... 55-60 



CHAPTER VI. 
Spiritualism in New York from 1849 ^o 1855 60-70 

CHAPTER VII. 
Spiritualism in New York Continued 70-7^ 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Spiritualism IN New York City and State 76-83 

CHAPTER IX. 
Spiritualism in New York City and State Continued 83-92 

CHAPTER X. 
Spiritualism in New York City and State Continued 92-100 

CHAPTER XI. 
Spiritualism in New York City and State Continued 101-114 



Vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. „,,.,„ 

PAGRS 

The Phenomena of Spiritualism in the Eastern States Generally, 115-128 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Spiritualists' Memorial to Congress 12S-141 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Spiritualism in New York Continued , 141-147 

CHAPTER XV. 
Spiritualism in New York Concluded 14S-156 

CPIAPTER XVI. 
Spiritualism in New England. . 157-164 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Spiritualism in New England Continued 164-172 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Spiritualism in New England Continued 173-185 

- CHAPTER XIX. 
Spiritualism in New England Continued 1S5-194 

CHAPTER XX. 
Spiritualism in New England Continued 194-207 

CHAPTER XXI. 
SpiFvITual Movements — Some of Its Darker Shades 207-217 

CHAPTER XXII. 
The New "Motor Power" 217-229 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Spiritual Movements Continued 229-239 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Spiritualism and Spiritual Mountebanks 239-243 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Spiritualism on Trial ' 249-261 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Spiritualism in New England Concluded 261-273 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vil 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Spiritualism in Pennsylvania 273-283 

CPIAPTER XXVIII. 
Spiritualism in The West 2S6-295 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Western Spiritualism Continued 295-307 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Western Spiritualism Continued — Ohio 307-318 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Western Spiritualism Continued — Koons's and Tippie's Spirit 

Rooms 319-333 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Western Spiritualism Continued — Indiana. Cathcart's Spirit 

Room 333-345 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Spiritualism in Cincinnati. 346-353 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Spiritualism in Missouri 353-3^0 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Spiritualism in St. Louis Continued 361-371 

CPIAPTER XXXVI. 
Spiritualism in St. Louis Continued 371-3S0 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
General Facts and Features of Westee.n Spiritualism 3S0-392 

CHAPTER XXXVIIL 
Western Spiritualism Continued 392-403 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
Spiritualism in the South 403-416 

CHAPTER XL. 
Spiritualism in the South Continued. '. 416-430 

CHAPTER XLI. 
Southern Spiritualism Continued , 430-443 



viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



PAGES 



Spiritualism in California 443-459 

CHAPTER XLIII. 
Spiritualism in Canada, Central and South America. .... 459-477 

CHAPTER XLIV. 
Spiritualism in the Territories 477-490 

CHAPTER XLV. 

Spiritualism During the Great American Civil War, 1860-5. • • 490-5o7 

CHAPTER XLVL 
Progress of Spiritualism after the War of 1861-5 50S-519 

CHAPTER XLVII. 
The "Cui Bono" of Spiritualism 520-532 

CHAPTER XLVni. 
"Cui Bono?" Continued 532-546 

CONCLUDING CHAPTER, XLIX. 

Celebration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the "Rochester 

Knockings," March 31ST, 1868 546-5^5 



PREFACE. 



As these pages seem to imply by their title certain specialties both in 
regard to time and place, whilst the subject of "Spiritualism," or the record 
of man's spiritual experiences is one which must be commensurate with the 
physical history of humanity upon this globe, they require a few words of 
explanation touching the aim and scope of the subject which the author 
designs to embrace in this work. 

The entire history of the race, when recorded in accurate detail and fidelity 
to fact, ever has, and ever will be found, marked with the shadowy outline 
of a second world of existence, supersensuous to that of mortality. On the 
walls of our earthly dwelling-places ever will be seen a writing inscribed by 
"a part of a man's hand," the form whereof is dimly visible, the full pro- 
portions of which no human eye may scan. And these mystic writings are 
discovered everywhere; they are traced in our holy places, and meet us on 
the thresholds of our habitations. They are seen in our very city streets, 
and the stones prate of their whereabouts. 

Sometimes we label them "religion," at others denounce them by the 
weird name of "magic," "witchcraft," or "sorcery;" in a word, we vari- 
ously denominate them, as time, prejudice, or custom suggests, under all the 
different titles which are included in the generic synonym of "supernatu- 
ralism ; " but deem of them as we will, they include a set of experiences, 
occult and incomprehensible though they be, as irresistible and inevitable 
in time and space as the more material array of facts which we assume 
makes up the sum of human history. In truth, this same "supernaturalism" 
is the Avoof spun by the hands of a powerful though invisible existence, 
which incloses all human life and shapes all human destiny. Hitherto, we 
have either determined to resolve the whole realm of power which makes 
up man's spiritual existence into the universal solvent of all mysteries, 
"God" and '■'•His Will;'''' or else, with still more unphilosophic ignorance, 
we have striven to stifle the records of its being beneath the jjall of unrea- 
soning and senseless materialism. Neither will longer serve our turn. All 
mental progress tends to the discovery that "God's will" is only manifest 
in law. Religion, ethics, miracle, and, supersensuous life, like tides, and 
times, and seasons, all resolve themselves at last into stern and immutable 
procedures of a set of mental laws as stringent as any of those that bind, our 

(9) 



lo PREFACE. 

physical existence. The whole realm of visionary supernaturalism melts 
away, then, before the morning sun of that glorious light that science brings, 
leaving no refuge for our world of occult facts but to range them within the 
domain of unexplained but inevitable law, or else, like rude materialism, 
to deny them altogether, and write upon half mankind's experience the 
gratuitous charge of "falsehood." Between the horns of this dilemma, and 
in the age when bold assertions or denial can no longer serve the cause of 
true philosophy, much less religion, comes the dawning of a day of spiritual 
science, in the vast and overwhelming tides of occult power that for twenty 
years have swept the continent of North America. And when we cite this 
mighty witness to our bar of spiritual inquisition, we stand alone. Acknowl- 
edging that every fact we have to record, or every case to cite, bears a 
strict analogy in point of representation to other facts and cases witnessed 
in every land and age, we still claim that the American phenomena — 
based, as their authors' insist they are, upon the foundations of natural law, 
and produced only in accordance with the conditions that law affords — form 
such an array of testimony concerning their origin as renders the modern 
movement in America a distinct and concrete one in the world's history. 
Several points of specialty cluster around it, as: first, the astonishing 
fecundity of its manifestations, crowding up tens of thousands of facts into 
a period of time that baffles the skill of any earthly recorder to keep track 
of; next, the marvellous coincidence and similarity of the manifestations, 
extending over immense surfaces of country — including three millions of 
square miles of thickly-populated States — within a period of time that renders 
the possibility of propagandism or the theory of collusion impossible ; and 
next, the deduction arising from this last-named fact, namely, that the same 
occult and invisible operators that originated the phenomena in one instance, 
must have been instrumental in producing them in all. It is contrary to 
the peculiar method of the writer of these pages to attempt the fortification 
of any position that may be advanced by human authority, however high or 
valuable ; hence no such course will be pursued, and few, if any, authori- 
tative quotations, outside of the American history itself, will find a record 
here. Were it, however, admissible, hosts of opinions world-wnde in renown 
and acceptance could be cited to prove the worth of such wonderfully 
coincident testimony as the above. The exercise of simple reason, however, 
should suflice to prove that a unique, well-organized, and highly practical 
concert of action alone could account for the manifestation of a coincident 
set of phenomena, spread over the immense geographical area we have 
indicated, dividing itself throughout the districts of thirty-six separate States, 
affecting all ranks of persons and classes of mind at once, occui:)ying in 
this gigantic system of propagandism less than twenty years, and exhibiting 
on its simply human side scarcely a single evidence of any of the accepted 
modes of disseminating strange tidings at present in use, much less of pro- 
moting physical changes and developments of the most unprecedented 



PREFACE. XI 

nature in thousands of individuals themselves. Still another point of 
isolated interest presents itself in the modern American movement, and this 
is in its religious or doctrinal character. Spuitualism, with a large majority 
of its American adlierents, is a religion, separate in all respects from any- 
existing sect, because it bases its affirmations purely upon the demonstra- 
tions of fact, science, and natural law, and admits of no creed or denomina- 
tional boundary. With such a foundation, its philosophy must necessarily 
ramify through immeasurable realms of natural and unceasing revelation ; 
whilst destitute of the hedge of sectarian luiiitation, its aims must encom- 
pass the whole human race in membership. If the American spiritual 
movement, therefore, did not stand wholly unrivalled in point of unity of 
design, wonderful, though invisible concert of action, manifest purpose, and 
overwhelming numerical strength, the doctrinal isolation of its majorities 
from all other existing sects would distinguish it from the Spiritualism of 
all other countries, where the generality of believers appear to accept the 
phenomena as a means of deepening their convictions in credal faiths, 
rather than as originating such views of the hereafter as destroy reliance 
upon ceremonial forms or sectarian beliefs. This religious phase of 
the American movement has ultimated in gathering together in Pente- 
costal meetings multitudes of persons for Sabbath-day worship, when, chiefly 
through the lips of entranced or inspired speakers, descriptions of the 
spheres and conditions of spirit life have been portrayed with such glowing 
eloquence, and under such an evident afflatus of supernal power, that these 
utterances have been by millions accepted as truths, received as genuine 
representations of immortal life, and hence superseded in the minds of the 
listeners the mere theories of mortals concerning the conditions of immortal 
existence. In connection with such teachings, keenly analytical discourses 
have been given — under circumstances that rendered their production from 
the normal condition of the speaker impossible — on the various natural 
sciences, illustrative of the all-wdse and beneficent character of the Deity, 
the guardianship of his ministering spirits, and the propelling causes of such 
human actions as tend to elevate or deform the spirit. In this category 
all the various reforms of the day have been discussed with a profound logic 
and searching acumen that would tax the far-reaching powers of the most 
highly cultivated intellects. Combined with such subjects as these, popular 
opinions [both in matters of religion and politics] have been analyzed ; and 
seeing that the discovery and application of tritth has been the sole object 
claimed by the intelligences that influence these utterances, and that truth 
has always been defined as '■'■that which is" it may well be supposed that 
mere fanciful theories or unsound opinions, asseverated upon human au- 
thority only, have not been treated with politic leniency or excused by the 
sophistries of custom and prejudice. And hence it is that American 
Spiritualism, as a religio/i,.h3.sed upon facts, proved by science, and defended 
with an irresistible tide of burning oratory amply demonstrative of a supra- 



12 PREFACE. 

mundane source, has not only taken captive the minds of the masses, but 
has also appealed, and that most successfully, to the deep thinkers of the 
land, to whom "religion must be a science" and "science a religion," or 
one or the other must be false and worthless. As we are not aware of any 
other country than America, where a popular religion thus appeals to the 
reason and requires its votaries to do their own thinking, or of any other 
denomination than "American Spiritualists" who base their belief on 
scientific facts, proven by living witnesses, so we deem our claim, on these 
grounds alone, would be justified in describing American Spiritualism as 
an unique, concrete, and at present isolated movement, demanding from 
historic justice a record as full, complete, and independent, as itself Two 
other considerations induce the author to attempt this record, however 
unworthy it may seem of the stupendous subject. The first of these is the 
somewhat remarkable indifference with which modern American Spiritualism 
has been treated by European writers on kindred topics. From whatever 
cause the overwhelming importance of the American movement may have 
been deemed sufiiciently disposed of in occasional paragraphs or at most a 
few chapters of meagre detail, it matters not now to inquire ; suffice it to 
say that Asiatic, African, European, and even America7i Indiaii Spiritualism 
has been fully and ably represented in most of the languages spoken by 
civilized man, and has engaged the attention of the highest talent of every 
age and country, admirable compendiums of which may be perused by the 
student of our own time from the ever-fertile pens of a Howitt, Enemoser, 
Kerner, DeMorgan, Scott, Brevior, Ashburner, Reichenbach, Kardec, 
Browning, Bushnell, Crowe, and others, whose honored names command 
the world's attention and respect for the subjects they treat of. William 
Howitt alone has exhausted the subject, and as far as a world-wide history 
can be transcribed and bound up in limited space, that noble champion of 
divine truth has ransacked the ages to bear witness on the side of God, 
immortality, and religion. Robert Dale Owen, too, with all the acumen 
of his keenly-analytical mind and the charming style peculiar to his highly- 
cultivated intellect, has added many a laurel wreath to the triumphs of 
spiritual versus material philosophy; whilst the venerable and learned Dr. 
Ashburner has penetrated as far into the adytum of that temple of occult 
force which enshrines the mystic cord that unites spirit and matter as the 
investigations of the ]3resent time can carry man ; and yet the stupendous 
realities of what the great good God and the spirits have done for man 
in America, during the last eventful twenty years, remain almost a sealed 
book, or one which, if opened to the world, no authoritative finger has 
pointed out to the heedless crowds who think through the leading minds 
of the day. And who is it, may well be questioned, that dares to raise 
such an index finger where minds accustomed to grasp the reins which guide 
the car of popular opinion have deemed the task beyond or beneath their 
notice ? No matter who or what ; enough if the task be done, or at least 



PREFACE. 13 

the attempt be made; enough if one grateful hand, that the loving clasp 
of spirits have guided through life's stormiest paths, now wields the ency- 
clopedist's pen, to record theu" doings, or as much of them as tliat feeble 
pen can note or the narrow page preserve. And how small a portion of 
that mighty sum can here find place, none better knows on earth than 
the mind that is now bent with reverend purpose to gather up the fragments / 

of those small loaves and fishes tliat have yet, in the Providence of God, 
sufficed to break the bread of spiritual life to America's thronging millions. 
But a score of years ago the name of "Spiritualist" was unknown on the 
American continent, whilst all the sum of Spiritualism was contained in 
the persons of three young girls, ignominously designated the "Rochester 
knockers." According to the last statistical accounts of this movement, 
furnished by its opponents in 1867, Spiritualism now numbers eleven millions 
of persons on the American continent ! And it is to trace some of the 
most prominent footprints made by the invisible hosts who have wrought 
this stupendous change; to x^oint to the beneficent effects on some indi- 
viduals, the marvels enacted in the persons of others ; preserve the memory 
of well-timed though evanescent specimens of spiritual literature, bread 
of the hour, but long since incorporated in the body of the movement 
and lost almost to recollection, and gather together the scattered blossoms 
of that garden of spiritual beauty that angel hands have planted, into one • 
immortal wreath, that this record is attempted. Geogi-aphically considered, 
the harvest ground of this great American movement has been spread over 
a surface of country extending from Maine to California; and not the path- 
less wastes of two vast oceans have sufficed to cut off or break the tele- 
graphic wires which have conducted the sound of the low tap, tap, of 
"the Rochester knockers" over tlxree miUions of square miles. Modern 
Spiritualism is rife along the length of the far Pacific shores, and skirts the 
Atlantic seaboard. It is in the cabin of the miner, in the heart of the 
Rocky Mountains, on the peaks of the White Sierras, and consoles the 
toiling emigrant in his nightly camp on the desert waste or the \vild prairie. 
It has breathed its first lessons of freedom and refinement to the Carolina 
slave, and humbled the pride of the Louisiana j^lanter. It has cheered the 
hours of toil in Massachusetts factories, and stimulated the energies of 
Minnesota pioneers. East, West, North, and South, its viewless lines have 
run; Avhilst mental science, burning oratory, triumph over pain and death, 
trust in God and hope for man have followed in its march. To count up 
its triumphs, number its achievements, do faintest justice to its treasures of 
hope, consolation, moral improvement, or spiritual elevation, would be as 
impossible as it has proved for the puny arm of man to stay its progress ; 
but to redeem from cold forgetfulness or ungrateful obloquy the memory 
of some acts, words, works, and vsritings, that else might be lost in the 
whelming floods of chance, change and time — this can be done at least, 
and to the work, the author's highest and most faithful aims are dedicated. 



14 PREFACE. 

One pledge more is offered : though in some special cases, names and dates 
cannot be fully stated, all incidents related are vouched for on the author's 
keenest sense of honor. The case of each not personally known or 
verified by individual testimony, has been searched out and scrutinized 
with the strictest car§. Authoritarian names, having no intrinsic value mth 
"the spirits," possess none with their scribe. But little of philosophy is 
off'^red, and few deductions or theoretical opinions will be given on Avhat 
is here presented. 

Faithfully to render such well-attested proofs of spiritual intercourse as 
the multitude of riches with which the author's stores are overloaded can 
permit her to select from, is all her hope or aim, and yet the half can never 
be related, and much that is left unsaid may be, and is, of far more worth, 
perhaps, than what is here preserved. 

'Tis said, "the vibration of one single note of music will linger on in 
motion through the corridors of all eternity." Nothing, then, is ever really 
lost, and whether written or unwritten on the page of mortal sense, all that 
lias been done is done forever. Farewell, then, regrets for half-attempts or 
ill-executed purposes. In the eternal printing houses of creation, the types 
of all that is are found. Accept or reject these pages, then, Avorld, as you 
may ! They and their author's aims and purposes, and all that may be said, 
or left imdone, will meet and greet her on that distant shore, where angel 
reapers gather in God's harvest treasures — "over there!" 



INTRODUCTION. 



"THE TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD." 

Before entering upon .the main object of this work, the author deems 
that a few remarks are necessary to elucidate the special aim and scope of 
her undertaking. A feverish appetite for novelty appears to be as much a 
specialty with the modem American as with the ancient Athenian. Perhaps 
this is a providential inspiration, which operates in the minds of every pioneer 
race as a goad to the action required to subjugate a new country. On the 
other hand, it may be deemed a psychological attribute peculiar to the 
American character, or a tendency which has been quickened into abnormal 
activity by the vast and marvellous outpouring of Spuitualism over the land. 
From whatever cause it may arise, certain it is that the cry of " Tell us some- 
thing new" seems to be a demand far more urgent amongst a great majority 
of the American Spiritualists than a requisition for the true, the good, or the 
beautiful ; and because we anticipate this questionable standard of novelty 
will be very generally applied to measure the value of these pages, we desire 
on their threshold to declare that they make no provision for the demand 
of " something new." In the first place, this work has been undertaken 
chiefly in response to the A\dsh of Spirit Friends, who have urgently pressed 
upon the author the necessity of gathering up the scattered fragments of 
spiritual literature that has passed out of circulation, and conserving in con- 
crete form the shreds and patches of broken records, which must else be 
swept away into the shadowy realms of tradition. When it is remembered 
that no systematic effort has yet been made to unite the multitudinous lines 
of interest that Spiritualism has woven into one connected chain of history ; 
that the numbers of the actors who have figured in its wonderful drama must 
be counted by the millions (scarcely more than one per-cent. of whose experi- 
ences have ever been given to the world), full justice may be rendered to 
our plea that the very best and utmost we can attempt is the work of an 
encyclopedeist, who labels and catalogues the variety of phenomena and 
the names of the personages connected with the wonderful movement, and 
strings together on the thread of history such pearls of truth as the relentless 
forces of the destroyer Time have left ungathered on the line of his march. 

In connection with the groupings of various phenomenal facts, we shall 
endeavour to i>resent the leading ideas which have grown out of the inter- 
course between " the tAvo worlds," cite the revelations of spirits concerning 
the conditions of the after-life and the philosophy of the communion, and 
quote the utterances of those public teachers who claim to have been spiritu- 
ally inspired. We shall point to the idiosyncracies of those who have become 
prominent in the movement, especially the media for the communications 
from the spirit-world, and when practicable, give such portions of their biog- 

(15) 



1 6 INTR OD UC TION. 

raphies as may enable us to solve the problem of their seemingly exceptional 
gifts. It v/ill be necessary for the elucidation of our subject, and in verifica- 
tion of what may be deemed rash statements, that we make frequent quota- 
tions from the press notices of the day, and present verbatim extracts from 
the spiritual journals, where facts are to be found recorded with a minutiae 
of detail which cannot . fail to be valuable to posterity, however tedious 
such familiar narratives may be to those who are still realizing similar expe- 
riences. 

The earnest American Spiritualist is one who combines all the restless and 
inquisitive tendencies of his country with the strong additional propelling 
power to locomotion which a search after the marvellous supplies ; conse- 
quently he not only undertakes frequent pilgrimages for the purposes of 
investigation, but visits distant places and persons on spiritualistic "missions." 
He reads all the journals of the time and place where he tarries; he visits 
all the media and joins all the circles held there, whether in garrets, cellars, 
saloons, halls, steamboats, mines, woods, valleys, Indian wigwams, or amongst 
the ruins of the "lost races." Either in his own person, or that of some 
member of his family or acquaintance, he is sure to have available medium 
power at his command, consequently he has his own store of phenomenal 
history to add to the general sum. 

He is a coiastant attendant on all the Sabbath spiritual services held now 
commonly in every town and hamlet he may chance to visit, and there he 
never fails to gather around him a considerable number of the magnates of 
the meeting, some member of whom becomes his hospitable entertainer for 
the day, when the joint experiences of the host and his guest are inter- 
changed and fully canvassed between the morning and evening meetings. 

Some portion of each Sabbath is devoted in spiritualistic associations to 
the public conference, when our sojourner gives his views with that peculiar 
facility and occasional touch of eloquence which is an almost national char- 
acteristic in America. Most commonly the close of the evening service is 
followed by several invitations from the ranks of the hospitable brethren to 
join circles, at one of which the welcome guest is greeted by mortals and 
their celestial visitors with all that cordiality and fraternal feehng which is 
one of the happy and distinguishing marks of American Spiritualism. And 
it is as much due to these locomotive and hospitable features in the move- 
ment that the phenomena has become so widely diffused, and carefully 
studied as to any national claim which the American can set up for a peculiarly 
spiritual nature. From such itinerant experiences, however valuable and 
often wonderful they may have been, the author freely confesses she has not 
felt herself at liberty to make many records. Compelled to withdraw within 
the stern pale of well-proved and thoroughly attested facts, the floating cur- 
rents of mere hearsay have necessarily been unwrought mines of wealth. 
Hence, for every fact recorded there will no doubt be found thousands ready 
to declare they could have furnished testimony of a far more wonderful char- 
acter. To such Vv^e can only say, we write for that posterity to whom our 
facts of veritable history will be of incalculable value, though to us, the living 
actors therein, they may be of little or no importance. Besides, the memory of 
these marvels rapidly passes away from us, and their effect upon our minds 
becomes lessened with the flight of time. Many there are that require a 
constant succession of phenomena to renew their faith ; and few amongst 
the best-informed Spiritualists have been at the trouble of carefully recording 
the facts they have witnessed. Spiritual journals, too, though numerous, and 
often conducted with remarkable abliity, have all — with the excepti )n of the 



INTR OD UC TION. I ? 

Spiritiial Telegraph 2J\^ Bamier of Light — been too short-lived to become 
l^oints of reference to x^osterity, and most of the other Uterature Oi the 
movement, though often marked with rare excellence, yet from being issued 
whilst its events were in transitu, are too premature in time and incom- 
plete in detail for historical uses. 

Obviously, then, a duty rests on some one to collect the best and most 
reliable evidence that the circumstances of the case will afford, so as to con- 
serve in a compendious form the records of either the commencement of a 
new era or an episode in human history as unparalleled in its preternatural 
marvels as it is rife with instruction, abundant in religious, social, and politi- 
cal influence, and prophetic of a mighty and momentous future for mental 
and spiritual science. Thus, then, it will be seen that it is not in the interest 
of the present so much as for future generations that we write ; not in the 
hope of putting forth a volume the tone of which will command, from popu- 
lar interest, a remunerative sale, but in deep and reverential conviction of a 
duty performed toward the mighty and beneficent power which has inaugu- 
rated this movement, and a grateful desire to share with others the priceless 
blessings of spiritual revelation which have been so abundantly poured out 
upon the actors in this marvellous drama. 

The whole history of the " Rochester knockings," the disturbances in Dr. 
Phelps's house at Stratford, the phenomenal life of the " Poughkeepsie Seer," 
accounts of the Spear, Harris, Spencer, and other fanatical movements, 
together with a vast array of incidents of a less stiking character, are all 
familiar as household words in the experience of every nineteenth century 
Spiritualist. But scattered as their records are in solitary volumes, or diffused 
through a mass of literature which has cost the author years to collect and 
collate from, they obviously require systematic effort to arrange ; and familiar 
as they may be to the present generation, they demand, in justice to pos- 
terity, an orderl}'- place in a compendious history of the whole movement. 

Besides this candid statement of w^hat the spiritualistic reader may or may 
not expect to find in these pages, a few words must necessarily be addressed 
to the critics, by whom, as is the custom, this work is to be heralded forth to 
that portion of the world who are in the habit of permitting the said critics to 
do their literary thinking for them. Although Vi"e scorn the petty subterfuge 
pf affecting to disregard the world's opinion at the very time when we are 
publishing a book for the avowed purpose of appealing to it, yet long expe- 
rience of the course pursued by a majority of the press in reference to un- 
popular subjects generally, and Spiritualism especially, has taught the author 
to expect no better treatment for her work than has been experienced 
by those whose honorable names should have commanded respect for any 
subject they wrote of. Where the honest truths detailed by an Ashburner or 
a Plowitt have been received by bold denial or insolent ribaldry, and that by 
self-styled critics who were utterly ignorant of the subjects they reviled, how 
can an author without their claims to public respect and " decent observ- 
ance " hope to escape ? Whilst candidly yielding, therefore, to that portion 
of public opinion which is represented in press criticism all the influence and 
weight it deserves, the author begs respectfully to state that she has heard 
the epithets of "trash," "falsehood," "imposture," "impiety," a rehash of 
old ghost-stories and exploded theories," etc. applied. to stubborn facts and 
unpopular truths before, and is prepared to hear them again. Happy in the 
belief that the assertions of falsehood do not affect the realities of truth, nor 
the opinions of bigotry and superstition long retard religious progress or hin- 
der the growth of spiritual freedom, the author, in company with a mighty 
2 



l8 INTRODUCTION, 

" cloud of witnesses," is contented to cast her great truths upon the \vaters 
of time, and let them sink or swim, as their own inherent vitaUty shall deter- 
mine. Well satisfied by the experience of all mankind that truth and logic 
will survive the shafts which abuse and ridicule aim against them, she com- 
mits her record to time and the inevitable justice which this mighty touch- 
stone has ever rendered to the cause of truth. Starting on our undertaking, 
first, with an overwhelming sense of its magnitude and many difficulties; and 
next, with but very qualified expectations of a satisfactory recognition from 
either S[)iritualists or outsiders, it may be significantly asked, for whom do we 
write at all, and on what possible basis do we rest any expectation of public 
acceptance or sympathy in our work? We answer: "We write for the sake 
of the spirits, the truth, and humanity," and from each and all we expect to 
gather such reward as we may merit. 

On behalf of the spirits we believe that Ave write of beneficent beings, 
of whose very existence, much less of their tender efforts to bless and 
benefit the world, a large portion of it is profoundly ignorant. If they, 
from their exalted spheres of blessedness, can be content to labor for a dark 
and ignorant generation, cannot we, in our human insignificance, emulate 
their disinterestedness? And again, can none of us afford to labor for love 
of the good and true, without a certain assurance of temporal reward and 
human appreciation? It were a libel on the race to deem otherwise. 
Ninty-nine per cent, of the world's brightest immortals have lived, labored, 
and died, for the sake of the true, the good, and the beautiful, with no other 
reward than the tardy and remorseful appreciation of posterity. If there be 
any amongst us who dare to emulate their martyr-like devotion, and humbly 
seek to walk in the track of their shining though tear-stained foot-prints, why 
question or sneer at the choice ? It is enough that the subject is more than 
worthy of all the care, labor, and disinterested effort that the many or the 
few can bring to bear upon it. Through the beneficent action of the mighty 
though invisible hosts who constitute the legions of the modern spiritual 
army, thousands of darkened minds have been snatched from hopeless belief 
in the horrible doctrine of annihilation. The crippled limbs have been made 
straight, the blinded eyes opened, the dull ears unstopped, the ebbing life 
called back to gladden the pathway of rejoicing friends ; the homes 
bereaved of frail mortality have been filled with the glorious presence of 
arisen angels ; the sinner has been startled from the paths of crime, and 
the fainting strengthened in the thorny road of virtue, by the direct and 
visible guidance and warning of precious spirit friends. A flood of light has 
been poured on the long-veiled and awful mysteries of the grave, revealing 
the solemn and stupendous realities of the inevitable hereafter, and a mass 
of wonderful revelation has illuminated the cherished mysticisms of supersti- 
tion and sectarianism, breaking the fetters of darkness that have so long hung 
around the neck of humanity. "Babylon has fallen "—" M3'stery, the 
mother of abominations," is slain, and the angel of truth and judgment has 
sOunded the trumpet of victory in the great outpouring of modern Spiritual- 
ism. When we remember that all these results are but a tithe of the bless- 
ings which the Spiritualist recognizes as flowing from the dispensation where- 
v/ith he has been visited, can it be a matter of astonishment that we deem it 
the highest of life's privileges to be permitted to write for spirits, and bear 
witness of their wonderful works throughout the land? To qualify the 
author for this office, she has borne her part in every phase of the spiritual 
dispensation. From earliest childhood up to the present time she has seen 
and conversed with spiritual beings like familiar friends ; passed tlirough 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

many of the phases of modern mediumship, and "ndtnessed or taken part in 
most of the scenes described in these pages. For the performance of pro- 
fessional duties connected with the cause of SpirituaUsm, she has travelled 
and lectured through thirty-two of the United States, and gathered her records 
chieHy from personal observation and the witness of living millions who are 
still on earth to bear testimony to the truth of her statements. Thus, the 
facts herein recorded are open to the strictest scrutiny ; they are, indeed, still 
transpiring, and occur constantly in the experience of eleven viilUons of persons 
in America, whose numbers include authors, editors, doctors, lawyers, clergy- 
men, professors of colleges, magistrates on the bench, statesmen, traders, 
operatives, and mechanics — in a word, all gi^adations of rank and all classes 
of thought. As keen research and sceptical scmtiny has for the most part 
characterized the progressive belief of American Spiritualism, these vast 
masses testify of that 'which they know and have proved. On the contrary, it 
will be found that the loudest and most rancorous opposers of this belief are 
persons who have either never investigated the subject at all, or so slightly 
as to be in no position to judge of its subtle and far-reaching realities. Let 
the world determine between these two classes. Both, no doubt, will be 
represented amongst the readers and critics of these pages, and to both Ave 
close our introductory remarks by affirming that we have lived, written, and 
purpose to abide by, in time present and to come, and under all circum- 
stances, this axiom of invincible strength and never-failing triumph : " The 
truth against the world." 



MODERN AlIEEICAN SPIEITUALISI ; 

OR, 

A TWENTY YEARS' RECORD OF THE COMMUNION BETWEEN 
EARTH AND THE WORLD OF SPIRITS, 

FROM 1848 TO i868. 



CHAPTER I. 



"VOICES CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS." 

" In deep trance-slumbers, when the world, asleep. 
Lay in the arms of night and wept or smiled. 
His liberated soul raised from its dust. 
We led him far beyond the veils, and floods. 
And labyrinths of sleep ; the clouds of death 
And all the shadowed dwellers in the world 
Were far beneath him. Through his consciousness 
Streamed the celestial sunrise. 
Cities and temples of celestial space 
Were mirrored in his mind." 

T. L. Harris. 

The Mesmerizers — Electro-biologists — Adventists of Spiritualism — The 

POUGHKEEPSIE SeER AND HIS REVELATIONS. 

If it be true that the history of humanity moves forward in epochs, then it 
is certain that the leading characteristics of one era result from the 
specialties of the age which preceded it, whilst we in turn plant the seed 
whose fruitage will be gathered by the hands of our posterity. 

Pie who searches for the origin of some great discovery, or the sources 
from which spring stupendous changes, may invariably trace the germ-thought 
through a continued series of experimental antecedents. 

Sometimes the causative idea is sown in many minds, and springs up in 
many places at once, but it may always be traced in rudimental stages of 
growth e'er it is exhibited in the maturity of a fully-perfected work. 

What we call "Modern American Spiritualism" forms no exception to 
this univerasal method of progressive unfoldment. 

Startling and unprecedented in many respects as appears to be the achieve- 
ment of a telegraphic communion between the visible and invisible vv'orlds, 
the open ear of intelligence will have no difficulty in recognizing the voice 
of many a John the Baptist who has proclaimed the coming of the New 
Spiritual Messiah. 

(21) 



22 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Amongst these none has rung out with a more clearly-marked tone than 
" Mesmerism," with its kindred phenomena of *' Electro-biology " and 
" Clairvoyance." Chemistry, Physiology, Phrenology, Magnetism, and Clair- 
voyance have all been steps leading up througli the once-forbidden mysteries 
of nature into the realm of imponderable forces, bearing the student onward to 
the very gates of the temple of mind, within which are now heard the low, 
telegraphic knocks of the spirit, inviting the earnest inquirers to enter, and 
prophesying the great day of revelation, when man may ascend, as on a 
Jacob's ladder, that mighty column where Physics is the base, Science the 
shaft. Metaphysics the superstructure, and Spiritualism the coronal glory of 
the capital, whose starry crown pierces the overarching firmament of 
Heaven. 

Mesmerism, with its wonderful results in somnambulism and clairvoyance, 
has often been assumed by the superficial observer to ofter a complete solu- 
tion of the mysteries of Spiritualism. Without attempting at present to show 
how totally inadequate is this explanation to meet the case in point, we are 
prepared to admit that mesmerism has performed an important part in usher- 
ing in the more comprehensive movement of Spiritualism. For several years 
antecedent to the advent of the latter, mesmerism, or " animal magnetism," 
was largely practiced over every part of America. In nearly every city, 
town, or hamlet, the itinerant mesmerizer made his rounds, operating upon 
chance subjects as opportunity offered, and alternately exciting superstitious 
terror or wrathful antagonism by the exercise of his seemingly magical 
powers. 

Many professional operators were no doubt skilful, and with a higher realiza- 
tion of the valuable gift >vith which they were endowed, might have become 
successful healers of the sick. As it was, and despite the fact that the 
exercise of their art was frequently interrupted by the insensate fury of 
ignorant mobs, they often succeeded in effecting what were deemed " miracu- 
lous" cures, at which they themselves were not less astonished than their 
subjects. 

In view of the superstitious bigotry and scientific ignorance which prevailed 
on this subject when animal magnetism was first practiced in America, con- 
tinuous experiment and deliberate investigation was impossible. Neverthe- 
less, the exhibitions of itinerant magnetizers, undignified and occasionally 
riotous as they were, became suggestive to thoughtful obsei-vers, and ulti- 
mately produced a wide-spread interest on the subject. Intelligent witnesses, 
assembled by chance in a village school-house or country barn, set them- 
selves to work to discover the source of the marvels they beheld. Magnetic 
experiments were practiced in the home circle ; more favorable conditions 
were followed by more remarkable results ; the inquiry deepened into pro- 
found interest, and the phenomena of animal magnetism became familiarly 
known to the most progressive classes of the community. Ignored by those 
scientists who were too proud to investigate anything they did not originally 
discover, and anathematized by a superstitious and creed-bound priesthood, 
animal magnetism was openly denounced as " the latest invention of the 
enemy of mankind," or, "a profound humbug" whilst the luckless itinerant 
exhibitor was often cited before some grave magistrate, who, in the seclusion 
of his ov/n home, was a more interested investigator and a better operator 
than the criminal he was called upon to punish. In a v>-ord, magnetism 
became a fashion, and its legitimate claim to be considered as a science was 
at length fully established. The result of this movement upon Spiritualism 
has now become obvious. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 23 

Thousands of persons "who are -warm advocates of the sphitual philosophy 
ficknou'ledge that their attention was first attracted to the subject by their 
interest in magnetism. In all the principal cities of the Union, gentlemen 
distinguished for their literary abilities, ^progressive opinions, or prominence in 
public aftairs, have graduated from the study of magnetism and clairvoyance 
to become adherents to the cause of Spiritualism, whilst many of the best 
mediums — especially the trance speakers and magnetic operators — have 
taken their first degree in Spiritualism, as experimentalists in the phenomena 
of mesmerism. 

All popular movements in America are spread over such immense surfaces 
of country that nothing less than a question of national interest can form a 
focalizing point for popular opinion, or its representation in foreign countries ; 
hence, whilst magnetism, electro-biology, and clairvoyance have sv>-ept ovei 
the land in vast tides of influence, they have acquired more notoriety in a 
few solitary instances in France and Germany, than in all their magnitude in 
the United States. 

Admitting that the modern spiritual manifestations in America first began 
to assume the form of a concrete movement at Rochester in 1848, it would 
still be impossible to separate the influence which the prevalence of the 
magnetic idea exercised upon minds prepared to receive Spiritualism and 
organisms already imbued with the necessaiy force to develop mediumship. 

Between the epochs in which these two great movements have dominated, 
is an interregnum, rife with the advent of a human phenomenon, connecting 
both, belonging to both, yet standing alone, and unrivalled in the marvellous 
character of his occult endowments, and the irresistible nature of the in- 
fluence h.i^ has exercised upon humanity. This, personage is Andrew Jackson 
Davis, more commonly called " the Poughkeepsie Seer." At about the age 
of fifteen, young Davis first became remarkable in New York and Connecti- 
cut for his skill in diagnosing and prescribing for disease through his wonder- 
ful clairvoyant faculty. Of a slight and delicate temperament, the young 
physician possessed a degree of intuitive refinement which in some sense 
compensated for his total deficiency of educational culture, and an artificial 
grace which could not be expected from his exceedingly humble origin, 
which was that of the son and apprentice of a poor country shoemaker. 

About tlie age of fourteen he was casually magnetized by a ]\Ir. Living- 
ston, of Poughkeepsie, who, discovering that the shoemaker's boy possessed 
wonderful clairvoyant powers, and an unusually successful gift of prescribing 
for the sick, gradually drew him from his trade into association with himself 
until at length they travelled and practiced together as operator and subject, 
with unbounded success and benefit to the world. 

From the period when Mr. Livingston accidentally discovered young 
Davis's Avonderful endo\\"ments, his whole time was so disposed of that 
neither then nor at any subsequent period of his career could he have found 
leisure, even if he had the capacity, to add one iota of literary information 
to his slender stock of village scholasticism. The exceedingly humble rank 
and limited means of his parents deprived young Davis of all chances of 
culture, save five months at a rustic school and the association of the rude 
boors of wild country districts. The extraordinary celebrity to which he has 
now attained has rendered even the minutest details of his early childhood 
public property ; hence it is well known that his highest accomplishment, at 
the time of what may be called his spiritual illumination, was limited to the 
capacity to read, write, and cipher very indifierently, v.hilst his whole stock 
of remembered literature was a tale called " the Three Spaniards." 



24 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Mr. DavIsJ was about eighteen years of age when he announced to the 
circle of admirers who had become interested in his wonderful lucidity as £. 
clairvoyant, that a new and astounding phase of spiritual power Avas about 
to be revealed through his instrumentality, commencing with the delivery of 
a course of lectures which were destined ultimately to revolutionize the 
scientific world and produce a striking effect upon the religious opinions 
of mankind. 

In fulfilment of this prophecy Mr. Davis proceeded to give the promised 
course of lectures, for the production of which he selected Dr. Lyon, of 
Bridgeport, as his magnetizer, the Rev. William Fishbough as his scribe, the 
Rev. Y. N. Parker, R. Lapham, Esq., and Dr. L. Smith, of New York, as his 
special witnesses, whilst several other gentlemen, high in place or distin- 
guished for literary and scientific attainments, were from time to time invited 
in, or permitted to be present at the delivery of the lectures ; and thus was 
produced the vast compendium of literary, scientific, philosophic, and historic 
knowledge, entitled "Nature's Divine Revelations." Of the work itself, 
together with a more detailed account of its author and his subsequent 
career, we shall speak more fully in our biographical sketches ; sufiice it to 
say that the marvellously abnormal character of the book, emanating as it 
did from a person so utterly incapable of its production under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, excited the most profound astonishment in all ranks and classes. 
"The Revelations" were quickly followed by "The Great Harmonia," 
"Penetralia," "Present Age and Inner Life," and other voluminous produc- 
tions, the sum of which, combined with Mr. Davis's lectures, editorial labors, 
associative movements, and wide-spread personal influence, have effected a 
complete revolution in the minds of a large and distinguished class of think- 
ers in the United Ststtes, who are known as the advocates of the " Harmo- 
nial Philosophy," a belief which emphatically owes its origin to the poor shoe- 
makej-'s boy, A. J. Davis. Even at the early age of eighteen (the period 
when the first of the " Revelations " were given) the remarkable attainments 
of Mr. Davis as a medical clairvoyant, together with the exceeding purity of 
his life and the modesty of his manners, had drawn around him a circle of 
distinguished persons who became his warmly-attached friends. Mr. James 
Victor Vv-'ilson, a gentleman of New Orleans, renowned for his literaiy talents 
and the author of an excellent treatise on magnetism, writes of him thus, 
during the delivery of his first lectures : 

"The world will shortly be apprised of a triumph in clairvoyance through the celebrated 
Mr. Davis, which it will be totally unprepared for. During the past year this uneducated, 
unsophisticated, and amiable young man has been delivering verbally, day by day, a com- 
prehensive, well-planned, and extraordinary book, relating to all the vast questions of the 
age; to the physical sciences; to nature in all her infinite ramifications; to man in his 
innumerable modes of existence ; to God in the unfathomable abysses of his love, v isdom, 
and power 

"Thousands of persons who have witnessed him in his medical examinations or scientific 
disclosures, live to testify to the astounding exaltation of mind possessed by Mr. Davis in 
his abnormal state. 

" The two new planets of our system, conjectured recently, were described in Davis's 
manuscripts fourteen months ago, namely, March 15 and 16, 1846." 

Shortly after the lectures commenced, Mr. Davis's rooms in New York 
City were thrown open to the public for medical examinations, on which 
occasions his manuscripts were often submitted to the highest intellects of the 
country for investigation, and his whole career — especially the impossibility 
of his having acquired the knowledge he exhibited in his clairvoyant state 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 25 

by any ordinary means — was made the subject of searching and rigid scrutiny. 
One of the most marked resuhs estaWishcd by the hfe of this phenomenal 
personage was the actuahty of clairvoyance and the triumphant revelation 
that the soul of man could commune spiritually with su[")ra-mundane as well 
as mundane minds, and asi:)ire far beyond this terrestrial sphere in its acqui- 
sition of knowledge. The latter, indeed, was still a mooted point, and a vast 
amount of logic was expended on young Davis's case in the attempt to 
prove that all the "revelations" poured through his lips were only the reflex 
of minds still upon earth, or stereotyped in books, and that the seer's gift 
was simply clairvoyant perception of mundane existences. It was doubtless 
very gratifying to the egotism of certain individuals to believe that the clair- 
voyant had found the source of his remarkable and varied revelations in 
their own highly-illuminated minds, and they professed themselves willing to 
become the subjects of this original system of mental piracy for the sake 
of appropriating the merit of his comprehensive philosophy and disposing of 
the awkward problem of supra-mundane interference ; but whilst many of Mr. 
Davis's writings give obvious evidence of human clairvo)^ance, 'there is still a 
large amount of original matter which can only be accounted for by admit- 
ting the hypothesis of spiritual perception in realms of super-sensuous ex- 
istence and inspiration from a world of supra-mundane knowledge. Besides 
this, there are points of coincidence in the testimony of other illuminated 
persons which must not be lost sight of. Whilst it must be admitted that Mr. 
Davis's lucidity and breadth of mental power was unparalleled in the records 
of history, the gift of clairvoyant sight was by no means limited by his ex- 
perience, even in his own time. The various magnetic subjects who abounded 
at the period we write of, not only gave evidences of a highly exalted condi- 
tion and remarkable interior perception, but frequently perplexed, their opera- 
tors by speaking oi spirits^ declaring the)' could converse with " dead people," 
perceive them in life, enter their habitations, and describe the homes or 
" spheres in which they dwelt." All this was contrary to the experience of 
the magnetizers, hence declared by them to be no reflex of their minds 
or opinions ; and as these unaccountable vagaries of entrancement seemed to 
be on the increase, considerate and candid inquirers began to connect them 
with the wonderful mental flights achieved by young Davis, and conjecture 
that the freed spirit in its "sleep waking" condition, might pass into realms 
of being, super-sensuous in their nature, and supra-mundane in their popu- 
lation. 

Meantime, as the transcendent powers of Mr. Davis seemed to concen- 
trate into one focal point all the lesser lights of magnetic marvel, so the 
whole ranks of materialistic antagonism rushed pell-mell upon him, as the 
head and front of all spiritualistic ofiending. Nero-like, the anti-spiritual 
world seemed, to think that in striking at him they could sweep out of being 
all the obnoxious, occult people and forces that outraged their materialism or 
bigotry; hence the " Poughkeepsie Seer" earned his newly-acquired fame 
at the price of becoming a target for the shafts of every form of abuse, ridi- 
cule, and slander that ignorance and prejudice could heap upon him. 

About the early part of December, 1847, the general understanding of 
spiritual philosophy received a valuable impetus from the publication of an 
excellent weekly journal entitled The Univerccelum, 0?' Spiritual FJiilos- 
opher. This paper was started at the instance of a few gentlemen whose 
friendship for and high appreciation of Mr. Davis induced them to make this 
attempt to popularize- his opinions, and call around them a circle of such v/ise 
and progressive minds as would sympathize with their views. The projectors 



26 HISTORY OF MODERN 

and chief contributors to the undertaking were Mr. Davis, then just twenty- 
one )fears of age ; Rev. WiUiam Fishbough, Rev. Thomas L. Harris, the in- 
spired author of the "Epic of the Starry Heavens," and other equally 
renowned poems ; and the Rev. S. B. Britain, to whose scholarly charge and 
highly-polished intellect the editorial department was wisely intrusted. 

Besides this accomplished editorial staff, contributors of the highest talent 
filled the columns of the Univercoilum. Amongst these were the Rev. W. 
M. Fernald, J. K. Redfield, Mr. F. M Baker, J. V. Ingalls, Charles Worth, 
and • D. T. H. Chivers. So brilliant an array of writers procured for the 
UniverccElimi a high reputation, and besides being the first spiritual periodi- 
cal of modern date in America, it became a compendium of the best thoughts 
and purest philosophy of the age. In addition to its own intrinsic merits, 
this journal was favored with the usual amount of advertising, which resulted 
from the bitter antagonism provoked by the spiritualistic reputation of its 
authors and editors. 

Unfortunately the latter gentlemen were richer in mental than material 
endov/ments ; hence they had to struggle with the usual amount o'f financial 
disability, that seems to be the fate of genius ; and hence, too, in all proba- 
bility, they were as much indebted to the publicity afforded to their paper by 
the rancor of their opponents as to their own merits ; the combination of 
the two causes, however, enabled them to fill a hiatus in the literature of the 
time for above two years, during which their paper, sustained by the most in- 
domitable perseverance and bitter self-sacrifice, laid the foundation of a 
noble and genuine tone of thought, the fruits of which will be felt in all ages 
where true spiritual life and philosophy can be appreciated. 

Besides their untiring eftorts in connection with the paper, its noble staff 
of editors endeavored to distribute the bread of life with which they felt they 
had been so richly blessed, in lectures given at home and abroad, to v.'hich 
they added public discussions, newspaper and magazine controversies ; in a 
word, they threw their hearts and talents into the work, and formed a nucleus 
from which the irradiations of spiritual thought and influence flowed out in 
abundant and startling force. It is simple justice to affirm that "Nature's 
Divine Revelations," the UnivercKlum, and the personal influence and difiu- 
sive labor of their talented authors, inaugurated a new era in the v/orld of 
thought, and opened up a new channel of inspiration, whose source, like that 
of the mighty Nile, may long remain a hidden mystery, but when explored by 
the enterprise of future ages, will date back to a human Nyanza in the per- 
son of the " Poughkeepsie Seer," upheld by the strong hands and sunlit 
minds of the noble gentlemen who rallied around him. 

" Honor to whom honor is due." The despised itinerant lecturers on 
magnetism, the still more contemned experimenters in electro-biology, even 
the unsophisticated children and rustics who were their subjects, these, as 
forerunners of the culminating marvel of modern ages — A. J. Davis — were 
amongst the first to hear the divine command to "prepare the way of the 
Lord," and re-echo the solemn charge in the wildernesses of materialism. 

The obscurity of the personages, and the humility of their pretensions, 
may throw over the origin of the movement the veil of imkind forgetfulness, 
or ungrateful repudiation, yet the vital fires of magnetism and the subtle 
forces of psychology Avill yet be found to underlie the whole science of life 
and mind, whether incarnate in mortal clay or enfranchised in the free 
spiritual existence in life beyond the tomb. The waters of Oblivion, 
muddied by the thick night of human ignorance and human ingratitude, may 
engulph in dim forgclfulness the name of the author of "Nature's Divine 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 27 

Revelations," but his phenomenal life-work and teachings have already 
formed a glittering star which is set in the firmament of eternity, surrounded 
by the constellation of unworn minds Avhom he focalized about him, and 
through whom the spiritual yearnings of the nineteenth century first found 
expression, in the shape of a true and harmonious philosophy. 

A. J. Davis and his friends, ridiculed, despised, contemned and slandered 
as they were, on the one hand startled the age from the worship of atoms, in 
which material science pretended to discover the sources of mind ; and on 
the other, embodied the vague transcendentalisms of credal faiths in the dis- 
tinct and tangible form of an electric, living, silver cord, uniting the shadov/y 
phantasmagoria of matter with the deathless and changeless principle of 
spirit. 

Though not the origin of or immediately connected \vilh the phenomenal 
movement called Modern Spiritualism, though indeed, up to this date, TJie 
Harmonial Philosophy of A. J. Davis, and the doctrines of Spiritualism, may 
maintain lines of separative demarcation between them, the great spiritual 
unfolding revealed in Mr. Davis's person, and the irresistible influence which 
he has exercised upon the opinions of the age, unquestionably formed the 
John Baptist which inaugurated that sunlit day when faith became knowl- 
edge, hope of immortality a glorious realization, and the dark, spectral 
shadow of death became transfigured into the radiant form of a ministering 
spirit, in the bright illuminating beams of modern Spiritualism. 



CHAPTER II. 

"AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH." 

The Shakers as "John the Baptists" of Spiritualism — Hydesville — The 
First Rappings — The First Spiritual Telegraph. 

A FEW years ago, the author, being on a lecturing tour in the vicinity of a 
large village of the community known as " Shakers," was waited on by some 
of their members for the purpose of communicating certain facts which they 
seemed to think it was essential to the cause of truth should be laid before 
her. One of the party, a man distinguished for his literary talents and the in- 
tegrity of his character, read a document which purported to be an account 
of a special visitation of the " guardian spirits " who openly communed with 
the members of that society. It seemed that manifestations of spiritual 
presence, through rappings, movings of furniture, visions, trance, clairaudi- 
ence, and clairvoyance, had been common amongst the Shakers since the 
time of their foundation, some seventy years ago ; but the particular visita- 
tion to which the visitors desired to call attention, took place about 1830, 
when a multitude of spiritual beings, with the most solemn and forcible 
tokens of their presence, in a variety of phenomenal ways indicated the ap- 
proach of a great spiritual crisis, in which they designed for a season to with- 
draw the special gifts enjoyed by the Shakers, and pour them out in mighty 
floods upon the "world's people," who, for the realization of certain divine 
purposes, faintly shadowed forth, Avere to be visited by unlooked-for and stu- 
pendous tokens of spiritual presence. ^ 

The commencement of the promised new era was to be inaugurated by 



28 HISTORY OF MODERN 

an extraordinary discovery of material as well as spiritual wealth. Alines of 
treasure were to be discovered in the earth, and floods of spiritual light were 
to descend from the heavens, and both these vast outpourings were, it was 
predicted, to occur in the year 1848, and to continue until about 1S70, 
when fresh sensuous and super-sensuous demonstrations were to proclaim the 
inauguration of another era. The record of this spiritual visitation, together 
with the details of the communication, was shown to the author, duly 
attested by numerous witnesses, and bearing date about 1829 or '30. The 
document stated further, that the Shakers, fearing lest their beloved "guar- 
dian angels" purposed to withdraw from them altogether, wept in such 
abundance that their tears fell on the ground like rain, and bedewed the 
sacred floor on which the angelic presence shone. The authenticity, 
together with the date of this prophecy, has been confirmed by numerrous 
communications from other Shaker communities ; and in further corrobora- 
tion of its truth, we call attention to the fact that the discovery of gold in 
California and the breaking out of Spiritualism through the "Rochester 
knockings" both occurred in 1847-8. 

In a most excellent work, published as early in the progress of modern 
American Spiritualism as 1855, giving a detailed account of its facts and 
fanaticisms up to that period, Mr. E. W. Capron, its author, relates, chiefly 
upon his own authority as an eye-witness, a full and interesting account of 
that initiatory phase of the manifestations knowm as the " Rochester knock- 
ings." Dr. Hare, Judge Edmonds, Hon. R. D. Owen, and other American ■ 
writers of celebrity have repeated in substance Mr. Capron's narrative, while 
several journals and a great many ephemeral pamphlets, now out of print, 
have given the sum of the history with more or less fidelity, so that a repeti- 
tion of this oft-told tale in these pages might appear supererogatory and almost 
impertinent, were its insertion not in strict accordance with the principal aim 
of a work which promises rather a compendious resume of the facts already 
patent to the public mind than any originality of detail or novel revelation 
in connection with it. Even the privilege enjoyed by the author of an inti- 
mate acquaintance with the famed " Poughkeepsie Seer," the "Rochester 
mediums," and Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, aftbrds no new sources of informa- 
tion in addition to the facts already detailed in former publications ; but as 
these facts form the opening wedges that rent asunder the rock of ancient 
supernaturalism, converting it into the light of modern Spiritualism, so the 
omission of these details from our history would shear eftects from their 
legitimate causes, and display the blossom and fruitage of a great movement 
severed from the root which gave it birth. The astonishing power of the 
human mind revealed through the magnetic sleep were not phenomena 
peculiar to Mr. A. J. Davis alone, nor unfamiliar to the investigators of 
occult science ; nevertheless, it was in his person that they assumed such 
magnitude and orderly development as to crystalize in one example the 
experience of preceding ages, and represent magnetism and clairvoyance as 
facts which admit of no dispute. Strange sounds and apparitions of the so- 
called dead were not peculiar to the house at tlydesville, inhabited by the 
Foxes, neither was the aura through which spirits could manifest their pres- 
ence an attribute special to this family alone. Besides the spiritual manifes- 
tations of other times and countries, rappings, movements of ponderable 
bodies, and all the variety of unaccountable phenomena witnessed at Hydes- 
ville, had often startled the inhabitants of other districts before ; and although 
the weird manifestations at Dr. Phelps's house at Stratford, exceeded in 
power and persistency any equally well attested facts of modern Spiritualism, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 29 

their nature was not unfamiliar to those who had ever examined the 
subject of haunted houses or the doings of the German "Poltergheist." Still 
the concrete and scientific characteristics of the spiritual movement in 
America take their origin in the first attempt at telegraphy, commenced at 
Hydesville and followed out in Rochester, and hence we cannot do justice 
to the subject without a careful review of this portion of it. From the first 
v/orking of the spiritual telegraph by which invisible beings were enabled 
to spell out consecutive messages, they ["the spirits"] claimed that this 
method of communion was organized by scientific minds in the spirit spheres ; 
that it depended mainly upon the conditions of human and atmospheric 
magnetisms, and pointed to the ultimation of a science whereby spirits, oper- 
ating upon and through matter, could connect in the most intimate rela- 
tions the worlds of material and spiritual existence. 

They referred to the house at Hydesville as one peculiarly suited to their 
purpose from the fact of its being charged with the aura requisite to make it 
a battery for the working of the telegraph ; also to the Fox family as being 
similarly endowed. 

They called this aura the " life principle," represented it as a force which 
constituted the person or place in which it existed in. abundance a medium, 
or channel through which spirits could communicate. These glimmerings of 
philosophy form the first stepping-stones to a spiritual science ; hence it is 
to the inauguration of a communion based upon these principles that we trace 
the commencement of the present era, and we should deem our history in- 
complete unless it started from that point. 

In x^ursuance of this object, we shall now invite the attention of the reader 
to a few extracts from certain pamphlets, written by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of 
Canandaigua, New York; D. M. Dewey, of Rochester, published in 1S50; 
J. B. Campbell, M.D., of Alleghany, published in 1S51; E. W. Capron, 
of Auburn ; and the testimony of various members of the Fox family, ren- 
dered in familiar conversations with the author. It should be stated 
that the scene of the follo\\ang manifestions was a small wooden house 
in the little village of Hydesville, Wayne County, New York. The place, 
not being directly accessible from a railroad, Avas lonely, and unmarked by 
those tokens of progress that the locomotive generally leaves in its track, 
hence it was the last spot where S, scene of fraud and deception could find 
motive for or possibility of a successful execution. The family so prominently 
identified with the phenomena were persons of worth and integrity. Their 
little dwelling, though so small and simply furnished as to leave no shadow 
of opportunity for concealment or trick, was the residence of honest piety 
and rural simplicity. All who have ever known them \vill bear witness to the 
unimpeachable character of the good mother, now happily removed from the 
scene of her overwhelming earthly trials, while the integrity of the simple- 
minded farmers who were father and brother to the ladies who have since 
become so celebrated as " the Rochester knockers," stands proved beyond 
all question. At the time of the manifestations, the house was tenanted by 
Mr. and Mrs. Fox and their two youngest children, Margaret and Catharine, 
the respective ages of whom Mrs. Fox's published statement represents as 
twelve and fifteen years. 

These details, insignificant as they may now appear, are due alike in 
justice to the family and posterity. "Wlien the future of this wonderful 
movement shall have become matter of history, and antiquit}^, if not reve- 
rence for spiritual truth, shall induce mankind to follow the example of their 
ancestors and label the records " sacred," the names now sunk in obscurity 



30 HISTORY OF MODERN 

and masked by slander may perchance be engraved in monuments of bronze 
and marble, and the incidents deemed too slight for notice may be reverenced 
as '■'■Holy Writ.'' These changes of chance and time have happened before. 
If history repeats herself they will occur again. 

From a published statement of the early investigations connected with 
this house, entitled " Report of the Mysterious Noises, etc.," we learn that 
some disturbances had affected the inhabitants before Mr. Fox and his family 
came to reside there. Nothing of the kind was noticed, however, until the 

tenancy of a Mr. and Mrs. , who, according to the statement of Lucre- 

tia P. [a girl who occasionally resided with them], occupied that house for a 
short time during the winter of 1843-4. Miss P., in the deposition called 
forth by subsequent investigations, states that one afternoon a pedler, ap- 
parently about thirty years of age, dressed in a black frock coat, light panta- 
loons and cap, and carrying with him a pack of goods, called on Mrs. , 

v/ho seemed to recognize him as an acquaintance. Shortly after his arrival, 

Mrs. called her, and told her, very much to her surprise, that she 

thought she could not afford to keep her any longer, and, as she was going 
to Lock Berlin that afternoon, she wished Lucretia to leave the house with 
her. This the latter agreed to do, but before going she looked at a piece of 
dress delaine in the pedler' s pack, and requested him to call with it at her 
father's house the next day. The man xDromised to do so, but she never saw 

him more. Mrs. and Lucretia then left the house, the pedler and Mr. 

remaining behind, the former being apparently likely to remain there 

for the day. 

After the lapse of three days, Mrs. sent for Lucretia P. from her home 

and requested her to return to her again. From this time Lucretia P. began 
to hear knockings in the bedroom, and on one occasion, when her employers 
had gone to Lock Berlin, she sent for her little brother and a companion 
named Aurelia to pass the night with her. All the young people that night 
distinctly heard noises which, as they declared, sounded like the footsteps of a 
man passing from the bedroom into the buttery, then down the cellar stairs, 
.traversing the cellar for a short distance, and then suddenly stopping. 

They were very much frightened, and scarcely slept the remainder of the 
night. In the "Report of Mysterious Noises," Mrs. P., the mother of 

Lucretia, who resided near, deposed that, having called on Mrs. one 

day, after the foregoing circumstances, she found her quite ill from want of 

rest on the previous night. On inquuing the cause, Mrs. declared that 

she was sick of her life, and that she heard the footsteps of a man traversing 
the house all night ; a statement which she often subsequently repeated. 
About a week after the visit of the pedler to the house, Lucretia, having occa- 
sion to go down into the cellar, stumbled and fell into some soft soil. Aware 

that this was unusual, she screamed for assistance, and when Mrs. came 

to her, she asked "whatever had Mr. been doing in the cellar?" Mrs. 

replied that it was o\Ay rat-holes ; and a few nights afterwards, the wit- 
ness related that Mr. was busy for a long time in the cellar filling up 

"the rat-holes" with earth which he carried there himself The house, as 
has been stated, was an humble frame dweUing, consisting of two fair-sized 
parlors opening into each other, a bed-room, and buttery or pantry, opening 
into one of the rooms ; and a stairway between the buttery and bedroom, 
leading down to the cellar and up to the half-story above. It seems that 
those who had inhabited this house previously ha,d never noticed any unusual 
sounds or disturbances in it. A few months from the occurrences abo\'e de- 
tailed it was occupied by a Mr. Michael Weekman, whose testimony we 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 3 1 

exti-act from Dr. Campbell's published account of the spirit rappings at 
Hydesville, which states that — 

"The first well-authenticated history that we have of the sounds so unaccountable to those 
who have heard them was in a house occupied by Mr. Michael Weelcman, in a little village 
known by the name of Hydesville, in the towTiship of Arcadia, Wayne County. He 
resided in the house for about eighteen months, and left some time in the year 1847. Mr. 
Weelcman makes the statement in substance as follows : That one evenmg, about the time 
of retiring, he heard a rapping on the outside door, and, what was rather unusual for him, 
instead of familiarly bidding them ' come in,' stepped to the door and opened it. He had 
no doubt of finding some one who wished to come in, but, to his surprise, found no one 
there. He went back and proceeded to undress, when, just before getting into bed, he 
heard another rap at the door, loud and distinct. He stepped to the door quickly and 
opened it, but, as before, found no one there.' He stepped out and looked around, sup- 
posing that some one was imposing on him. He could discover no one, and went back 
into the house. After a short time he heard the rapping again, and stepped up [it being 
often repeated] and held on to the latch, so that he might ascertain if any one had taken 
that means to annoy him. The rappmg was repeated ; the door opened instantly, but no 
one was to be seen ! He states that he could feel the jar of the door very plainly when 
the rapping was heard. As he opened the door, he sprung out and went around the 
house, but no one was in sight. His family were fearful to have him go out lest some one 
intended to harm him. It always remamed a mystery to him, and finally, rs the rapping 
did not continue at that time, passed from his mind, except when sometlaing of the same 
nature occurred to revive it. 

" They were at one time disturbed by a manifestation of a different nature, which might 
be thought more incredible than the. former, had not facts proved that such occurrences 
were common in the families where the early manifestations were heard. One night 
their little girl, then about eight years of age, was heard to scream from fright, so that the 
family were alarmed by her cries and went to her assistance. This was about midnight. 
She told them that something like a hand had passed over her face and head ; that she felt 
it on the bed and all over her, but did not become so much alarmed until it touched her 
face. It seemed cold, and so badly had she been frightened that it was a long time before 
slie could tell the cause of her alarm. It was several days before she could be induced to go 
into the same room to sleep. 

"All. this might have occurred, and been only 'the idle fabric of a dream;' and we 
should be inclined to the belief that such was the case had we not had the most conclusive 
evidence that such manifestations were quite common, not only in that house, but in various 
others where any of these strange occurrences have happened. 

"We hear nothing more of Mr. Weekman being disturbed by the rappings or other 
manifestations, or there being anything of the kind with that exception, until after the 
house was occupied by the family of ]Mr. John D. Fox. It was resented to that family to 
be the instruments of communicating to the world, or to this part of it, this most singular 
affair. They were the ones who first, as if by accident, found out that there was an in- 
telligence manifested even in this rapping, which at first appeared nothing more than an 
annoying and unaccountable noise. 

*■' The family of J\Ir. Fox were well known in the neighborhood where they resided. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fox were connected with the INIethodist Episcopal Church, of which they 
had for many years been exemplary members, and had sustained a character unimpeachable 
for truth and veracity. No one who knew them had the least suspicion of their honesty 
or truthfulness. At the time these occurrences first took place in the family, there were 
living with the parents three daughters, the youngest about twelve years of age. 

"There are probably few families in which such an occurrence could have taken place 
where it would have created a greater degi'ee of surprise and fear than m this one. They 
were entirely unacquamted with the history of any similar occurrence in the world, and 
brought up in the common routine of religious belief they were, as in fact aU the world 
really was and still is, entirely unprepared for such a development of the power of spirits to 
make themselves known to us by somids or other ways." 

From the family themselves the author learns that they heard knocking 
very frequently before the jjeriod when they first called in the neighbors, and 
that they generally seemed to proceed from the bedroom or the cellar be- 
neath. Mrs. Fox was at first disposed to attribute these sounds to a neigh- 
boring shoemaker, but the cause soon began to be plainly located in the 



32 HISTORY OF MODERN 

house itself, and not only seemed to jar the furniture, but even to OGcasi je 
a slightly oscillating movement of the bed in Avhich the children slept. Some- 
times the sounds resembled footsteps, and occasionally the children com- 
plained of being touched by something invisible, which at one tmie seemed 
like a cold hand, and again a large dog. The family had moved into 
the house in December, 1847, and in the February of the following year the 
noises had become so distinct and continuous that their rest was broken 
night after night, and they were worn out by their eftbrts to discover the 
cause. Up to the March of 1848 these disturbances, harassing and even 
serious as they were, affecting their rest and tranquility of a night, had never 
been heard during the day. 

At length, however, they became "so incessant and distressing that Mrs. 
Fox communicated the matter to her son David, a farmer, who resided 
about three miles distant from the troubled house. Her story, however, 
was listened to with incredulity, and regarded simply as the work of imagin- 
ation " or something of the simplest kind in the Avorld." On Friday even- 
ing, March 31st, the family had retired to bed earlier than usual, being 
completely worn out with the restlessness induced by former disturbances. 
The mother had strictly charged the children " to lie still " and take no 
notice whatever of the sounds ; but, as if in rebuke of her determined insen- 
sibility, they were on this occasion louder and more pertinacious than ever. 
Rest or silence was impossible ; the parents had not yet retired, but were 
about to do so. The children kept exclaiming, and sitting up in bed to 
listen to the sounds. Mr. and Mrs. Fox tried the windows and doors, but 
all in vain ; the raps were evidently answering the noise occasioned by the 
father's shaking the window-shashes, as if in mockery. At length the young- 
est child, Kate — who, in her guileless innocence, had become familiar with 
the invisible knocker, until she was more amused than alarmed at its pres- 
ence — merrily snapped her fingers and called out, " Here, Mr. Split-foot, do 
as I do ! " The effect was instantaneous ; the invisible rapper responded 
by imitating the number of her movements. She then made a given number 
of motions with her finger and thumb in the air, but without noise, and her 
astonishment and childish delight was' redoubled to find that it could see as 
well as heai-, for a corresponding number of knocks were immediately given 
to her noiseless motions. " Only look, mother ! " she cried ; " look, it can 
see as well as hear ! " What an announcement were these few simple words ! 
It can see as well as hear should have been a text which all the doctors, 
professors, sceptics, and scoffers who have subsequently tried to crush out 
the sublime truth of spiritual intercourse with earth should have studied and 
learned by heart ere they entered on their rash and irreverend crusade. 
Flappily for the momentous work which the spiritual telegraphers had 
undertaken to initiate in this humble dwelling, the first manifestations did 
not appeal to the high and learned of the earth, but to the plain common- 
sense of an honest farmer's wife, and suggested that whatever could see, 
hear, and intelligently respond to intelligent queries, must have in it some- 
thing in common with humanity; and thus prompted ' she continued her 
investigations, an act doubtless far beneath the dignity of mighty professors 
and learned savans, who can work out problems in Euclid, but scorn to de- 
scend to the simple task of putting two and two together to make four. 

Addressing the viewless rapper, Mrs. Fox then said, " Count ten." The 
raps obeyed. " How old is my daughter Margaret?" then " Kate. " Both 
questions were distinctly and correctly rapped out. The next response was 
v/rong, however. Querying, " How many children have I ? " the raps an- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 2>Z 

swered " seven." Mrs. Fox only had six living, but having become sur- 
prised and interested enough to Avish that the invisible rapper should be cor- 
rect, she repeated her question, and was again ansv/ered by seven knocks. 
Suddenly she cried, "How many have I living?" six raps responded; 
" How many dead ? " a single knock ; and both these answers proved correct. 
To the next question, " Are you a man that knocks ? " there v.^as no 
response; but '■'■ Are you a spirit?'''' elicited firm and distinct responsive 
knocks. To the question whether " it Avould knock " if she called in her 
neighbors, an answer was given, Avhereupon she sent her husband for a Mrs. 
Redfield, who, after questioning the knocker in the same manner and re- 
ceiving numerous and always correct responses, in great agitation proceeded 
to summon others, by whom similar investigations were conducted, with 
equal success, far into the night. 

The reader must endeavor to picture to himself the scene which followed 
the introduction of the neighbors to this weird and most novel court of in- 
quiry. 

Imagine the place to be an humble cottage bedroom in a remote and 
obscure hamlet; the judge and jurors, simple, unsophisticated rustics ; and 
the witness an invisible, unknown being, a denizen of a world of whose very 
existence mankind has been ignorant ; acting by laws mysterious and incon- 
ceivable, in modes utterly beyond all human control or comprehension, and 
breaking through what has been deemed the dark and eternal seal of death, 
to reveal the long hidden mysteries of the grave and drag to the light secrets 
which not even the fabled silence of the tomb could longer hide away. 
Those who have been accustomed to dream of death as the end of all vvhom 
its shadowy portals inclose, alone are prepared to appreciate the awful and 
startling reahty of this strange scene, breaking apart, as it did, like a rope of 
saud, all the preconceived opinions of countless ages on the existence and 
flestiny of the living dead. 

Those who have become familiar with the revealments of the spirit circle 
will only smile at the consternation evoked in this rustic party by the now- 
familiar presence and manifestations of "the spirits;" but to those who still 
stand in the night of superstition, deeming of all earth's countless millions 
as dead ! dead ! lost ! gone ! no one knows whither ; never to return ; to 
give no sign, no echo, no dim vibration from that vast gulf profound of 
unfathomed mystery — what a picture is that which suddenly brings them in 
an instant face to face with the mighty hosts of vanished dead, all clothed in 
life, and girded round with panoply of power, and light, and strength ; with 
vivid memory of the secret wrongs deemed buried in their graves ! The 
wrong doer and his victims face to face ; earth's murdered ones in life again ; 
her loved ones, supposed to be crumbling into dust, in busy, active life, 
fanning our cheeks with threads of golden hair ! "W^iy, sirs, the very air is 
full of them ! Our city streets are thronged with an unseen people who flit 
about us, jostling us in thick crowds, and in our silent chambers, our secret 
closets, and our busiest haunts ; their piercing eyes, invisible to us, are scan- 
ning all our ways. The universe is teeming with them; "there are no 
DEAD." Those who went out from the humble chamber on that night of 
mingled fear and awe beheld the Avorid they lived in with changed eyes. 
Every familiar thing to them seemed to wear a different aspect. Something 
was altered ; some might}^, nameless change had fallen on all around them, 
and though they knew not how to phrase their thoughts in speech, they all 
and each felt that they Avere another man or Avoman, Avhilst the air, the earth, 
the dust beneath them, and the sky above, Avere filled Avith a vieAA'less host 
3 



34 HISTORY OF MODERN 

of spirit-witnesses ; and that for all they had loved and lost, as for themselves, 
'■'■there is no deaths 

Returning from this digression to the house at Hydesville on the memor- 
able night of March 31st, 1848, Ave again invite the reader to the perusal of 
the statements collected by Dr. Campbell. After reiterating the questions 
already quoted, the pamphlet continues the narrative thus : 

'* Mrs Fox then inquired in the same way — /. e. by the raps — if it was an injured spirit, 
and to request an answer in the same way, and the rapping was repeated. In tliis way it 
answered her until she ascertained that it purported to be the spirit of a man, and that he 
was murdered for his money. To the question of how old he was, there were thirty-one 
distinct raps. She also ascertained by the same means that he was a married man, and liacl 
left a wife and five children ; that his wife was dead, and had been dead two years. After 
ascertaining so much, she asked the question, ' Will the noise continue if I call in the 
neighbors? ' The answer was, by rapping, in the affirmative. They then for the first time 
began to call in their neighbors, to help, if possible, to solve this great mystery. 

"At first they called in their nearest neighbors, who came thinking tliey would have a 
hearty laugh at the family for being frightened ; but when the first lady that came in found 
that the noise, whatever it might be, could tell the age of herself as well as others and 
give correct answers to questions on matters of which the family of Mr. Fox v/as entirely 
ignorant, she concluded that there was something beside a subject of ridicule and laughter 
in these unseen but audible communications. These neighbors insisted on calling in others, 
who came, and after investigation were as much confounded as at first. 

"The family, being somewhat alarmed and much fatigued, left the house for the night. 
The next day the excitement began to spread, and the house was filled with anxious seekers 
for the unknown and invisible visitor. Through that day and up to that time there were 
no sounds heard in the daytime. 

"On Sunday morning, April 2d, the noise commenced in the daytime, and was heard 
all that day by all who could get into the house, as the crowd which came from all quarters 
was much greater than the house would hold. We have heard it estimated that at one 
tim.e there were as many as five hundred people who had gathered to hear the sounds, so 
great was the excitement at the commencement of these strange occurrences. On Saturday 
evening, there was a committee appointed to ask questions and report what the result was, 
but it was nothing of any importance differing from what is here related." 

As a confirmation of what we have above stated, we give the following 
extracts from the testimony of William Deusler, of Arcadia, an immediate 
neighbor of Mr. Fox at the time of the transaction. This statement was 
published in a pamphlet by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of Canandaigua, New York, 
which contains the testimony of many persons in the neighborhood. Mr. 
Deusler says : 

" I live in this place. I moved from Cayuga County here last October. I live within 
a few rods of the house in which these noises have been heard. The first I heard anything 
about them was one week ago last Friday evening [31st day of March]. Mrs. Redfield 
came over to my house to get my wife to go over to Mr. Fox's. Mrs. Redfield appeared 
to be very much agitated. My wife wanted I should go with them, and I accordingly went. 
When she told us what she wanted us to go for I laughed at her, and ridiculed the idea 
that there was anything mysterious in it. I told her it was all nonsense, and that it 
could easily be accounted for. This was about nine o'clock in the evening. Tliere were 
some twelve or fourteen persons there when I got into the room. I went into the room 
and sat down on the bed. Mr. Fox asked questions, and I heard the rapping \\-liich they 
had spoken of, distinctly. I felt the bedstead jar when the sound was produced. 

" Mrs. Fox then asked if it would answer my questions, if I asked any, and if so, rap. 
It then rapped three times. I then asked if it was an injured spirit, and it rapped ; I asked 
if it had come to hurt any one who was present, and it did not rap. I then reversed this 
question, and it rapped. I asked if I or my father had injured it [as we had formerly lived 
in the house] ; there was no noise. Upon asking the negative of these questions, the rap- 
ping was heard. I then asked if Mr. [naming a person v>'ho had formerly lived in the 

house] had injured it, and if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made three knocks louder 
than common, and at the same time the bedstead jarred more than it had done before. I 
then inquired if it was murdered for money, and the knocking was heard. I then requested 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 35 

it to rap when I mentioned the sum of money for which it was mm-dered. I then asked if 
it was one hundred, two, three or four, and when I came to five hundred the rapping was 
heard. All in the room said they heard it distinctly. I then asked the question if it was 
five hundred dollars, and the rapping was heard. 

"After this, I sent over and got Artemus W. Hyde to come over.* He came over. I 
then asked over nearly the same questions as before, and got the same answers. Mr. Red- 
field sent after David Jewel and mfe, and Mrs. Hyde also came. After they came in 1 

asked the same questions over and got the same answers I then asked 

it to rap my age — the number of years of my age. It rapped thirty times. This is my 
age, and I do not think any one about here knew my age, except myself and family. I then 
told it to rap my wife's age, and it rapped thirty times, which is her exact age ; several of 
us counted it at the same time. I then asked it to rap A. W. Hyde's age ; then Mrs. A. 
W. Hyde's age. I then continued to ask it to rap the ages of different persons — naming 
them — in the room, and it did so correctly, as they all said. I then asked the number of 
children in the different families in the neighborhood, and it told them correctly in the usual 
way, by rapping ; also the number of deaths that had taken place in the different families, 
and it told correctly 

" I then asked in regard to the time it was murdered, and in the usual way, by asking 
the different days of the week and the different hours of the day, learned that it was mur- 
dered on Tuesday night, about twelve o'clock. The rapping was heard only when this 
particular time was mentioned. When it was asked if it was murdered on a Wednesday, 
or Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there was no rapping. I then asked if it carried any 
trunk, and it rapped that it did. Then how many, and it rapped once. In the same way 

we ascertained that it had goods in the trunk, and that took them when he murdered 

him ; and that he had a pack of goods besides, I asked if its wife was living, and it did 

not rap. If she was dead, and it rapped This was tried over several 

times and the result was always the same. 

" I then tried to ascertain the first letters of its name by calling over the different letters ^^ 
of the alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if it was the initial of its name ; and ! 
when I asked if it was B the rapping commenced. We then tried all the other letters, 
but could get no answer by the usual rapping. I then asked if we could find out the whole 
name by reading over all the letters of the alphabet, and there was no rapping. I then 

reversed the question, and the rapping was heard There were a good 

many more questions asked on that night by myself and others, which I do not now remember. 
They were all readily answered in the same way. I staid in the house until about twelve 
o'clock and then came home. Mi\ Redfield and Mr. Fox staid in the house that night. 

" Saturday night I went over agaiir about seven o'clock. The house was full of people 
when I got there. They said it had been rapping some time. I went into the room. It 
was rapping in answer to questions when I went in 

"There were as many as three hundred people in and around the house at this time, I 
should think. Hiram Soverhill, Esq., and Volney Brown asked it questions while I was 
there, and it rapped in answer to them. 

"1 went over again on Sunday between one and two o'clock P. M. I went into the 
cellar with several others, and had them all leave the house over our heads ; and then I 
asked, if there had been a man buried in the cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any other 
noise or sign. The moment I asked the question there was a sound like the falling of a 
stick about a foot long and half an inch through, on the floor in the bedroom over our 
heads. It did not seem to rebound at all ; there was but one sound. I then asked Stephen 
Smith to go right up and examine the room, and see if he could discover the cause of the 
noise. He came back and said he could discover nothing ; that there was no one m the 
room, or in that part of the house. I then asked two more questions, and it rapped in 
the usual way. We all went up-stairs and made a thorough search, but could find nothing. 

"I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if I could make the same noise by dropping 
them, but I could not. This was all I heard on Sunday. There is only one floor, or par- 
tition, or thickness between the bedroom and the ceUar ; no place where anything could be 
secreted to make the noise. When this noise was heard m the bedroom I could feel a 
slight, tremulous motion or jar 

" On Monday night I heard this noise again, and asked the same questions I did before 
and got the same answers. This is the last time I have heard any rapping. I can in no 
way account for this singiflar noise which I and others have heard. It is a mysteiy to me 
which I am unable to solve 

" I lived in the same house about seven years ago, and at that time never heard any 



* The son of the proprietor of the house at Hydesville. 



^6 HISTORY OF MODERN 

noises of the kind in and about the premises. I have understood from Johnston and others 

who have lived there before moved there, that there were no such sounds heard there 

while they occupied the house. I never believed in haunted houses, or heard or saw any- 
thing but what I could account for before. 

(Signed) 
"Ap-il 12, 1848. William Deusler." 

To the same effect is the testimony of the following persons, whose cer- 
tificates are published in the work alluded to, namely : John D. Fox, Walter 
Scotten, Elizabeth Jewel, Lorren Tenney, James Bridger, Chauncey P. 
Losey, Benjamin F. Clark, Elizabeth Fox, Vernelia Culver, William D. 
Storer, Marvin P. Losey, David S. Fox, and Mary Redfield. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE FIRST SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH ON EARTH. 

"We are the first that ever burst 

Into that silent sea." 

Ancient Mariner. 

So blind, so ignorant is man, 

That did not God withhold in ijiercy what we ask 

We would be ruined at our own request." 

Hannah More. 

The First Spirit Circle — The Removal to Rochester — Persecution — The 
Beginning of Sorrows — The Spirits Rejected — Their Return and great 
Joy of the Mediums — Preliminary Arrangements for Public Investiga- 
tions. 

As it was deemed best for Mrs. Fox and her children to seek the shelter 
of a neighbor's house on the night of March 31st, when they had departed, 
Mr. Fox and his neighbors, to the number of seventy or eighty persons, re- 
mained to question as best they could their mysterious visitor by the knocks. 
Through these, obtaining affirmative answers or silence to their suggestions, 
they learned that the rapper purported to be the spirit of a pedler, who had 
been, as it was stated in the preceding chapter, murdered in that house be- 
tween four and five years ago. On na,ming over the various inhabitants of 
the house who might have destroyed him, the knocks emphatically and 
repeatedly pointed to one who had lived there at the time indicated by the 
spirit. It was in this way ascertained [as far, at least, as answers to leading 
questions could be held as testimony], that the pedler was murdered on the 

Tuesday night that Lucre tia P., the hired girl, was sent away; that was 

alone in the house, and that " the body was dragged through the parlor, 
into the buttery, and thence down the cellar stairs, and buried ten 
feet deep in the cellar." When the party adjourned to the cellar, the 
knocks accompanied them, and repeatedly confirmed the above story in 
every particular ; these sounds also indicated the place where the body was 
buried, and the rappings were given on the spot above the place pointed 
out in the cellar. An attempt was made to receive communications through 
raps, by caUing the letters of the alphabet ; the sounds responded to C and 
B, but it was not until a later period that Mr. David Fox succeeded in ob- 
taining the full name of Charles B. Rosna. To the practiced investigator in 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 37 

spiritual phenomena, it will be readily understood that the confused mag- 
netic spheres of the highly-excited crowd assembled in the cellar at Hydes- 
ville on the night of the 31st of March, prevented the success of the first 
attempt of spirits to communicate through raps by the alphabet ; and the 
same considerations show why Mr. Fox, in a calm and prayerful spirit, did 
succeed on a later occasion. The only marvel is that this attempt was not 
again resorted to until four months aftervv'ards, when Isaac Post, a member 
of the Society of Friends and an acquaintance of the Fox famil}^, weary of 
the unsatisfactory method of prompting questions and only obtaining nega- 
tive or affirmative replies, suggested the same method of communication as 
that used by David Fox in the cellar. The result of this experiment has been, 
as all investigators know, eminently successful, where the conditions have 
not been broken by over-anxiety, fear, antagonism, or any strong emotion 
on the part of those present; conditions which, by causing disturbance in the 
delicate, imponderable aura that surrounds the circle, as conclusively break 
the affinities through which the manifestations are made as unscientific ar- 
rangements will destroy the effect of a voltaic pile or galvanic battery. 
Notwithstanding the crude methods in which the first mvestigators at Hydes- 
ville endeavored to communicate with their invisible respondent, their report, 
and the astounding implication of murder involved in it, drew all the inhabi- 
tants from far and near to the house. Up to seven o'clock on the evening 
of April 1st, however, no noises were heard, after which they re-commenced, 
and answered the questions as before, when amongst the hundreds there 
assembled, it was asserted that not a single incorrect response was given. 
On the Monday following Mr. David Fox and others commenced digging 
in the cellar, but as the house was built on low ground, and in the vicinity 
of a stream then much swollen by rains, it was not surprising that they were 
baffled by the influx of water at the distance of three feet down. In the 
summer of 1848, when the ground was dry and the water lowered, "the dig- 
gings" again commenced, when they found a plank, a vacant place or hole, 
some bits of crockery, which seemed to have been part of a wash-bowl, char- 
coal, quicklime, some human hair, bones [declared on examination by a 
surgeon to be human], and a portion of a human skull. 

Such Avere the results of the examination of the cellar ; such the only cor- 
roborative evidences obtained of the truth of the spirit's tale of untimely 

death ; and hence it may be proper to add that Mr. , the party to 

whom the spirit emphatically pointed as his murderer, came forward from 
the town of Lyon, N; Y., to which he had removed in 1846, and produced a 
certificate of good character, signed by forty-four persons, to the effect that 
they had "never known anything against him," and '■'■believed him to be a 
man of upright and honest life, and incapable of committing the crime of 
which he was suspected." By way of throwing discredit on the tale rapped 
out by the spirits, several other missing persons were said to have been 
murdered, and after various parties had been accused falsely "by the spirits," 
reappeared again. Most of these stories proved " bogus," and none of 
them bear the least relation to the unsought and unexpected spontaniety 
of the revelations at Hydesville. No further investigations, however, have 
been deemed necessary into this affair. 

The presence of human remains in the cellar proves that some 07ie was 
buried there, and the accompanying quicklime and charcoal testify to the 
fact that all traces of that mysterious inhumation were purposely destroyed. 

The Fox family did not immediately quit the scene of this mysterious 
haunting, but remained to witness still more astonishing phenomena. The 



38 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

furniture was frequently moved about; the girls were often clasped by 
hard, cold hands; doors were opened and shut with much violence, their 
beds were so shaken that they were compelled to " camp out," as they termed 
it, on the ground ; their bed-clothes were dragged from off them, and the 
very floor and house made to rock as in an earthquake. Night after night 
they would be appalled by hearing a sound like a death struggle, the gurgling 
of the throat, a sudden rush as of falling blood, the dragging as if of a help- 
less body across the room and down the cellar stairs ; the digging of a grave, 
nailing of boards, and the filling up as of a new-made grave. These sounds 
have been subsequently produced by request, and spontaneously also, in the 
presence of many persons assembled in circles at Rochester ; but occurring 
as they did in that "lonely dreadful house," in the stillness of the dim even- 
ing, or dark night, and startling them, when not thinking of the subject, with 
all the ghastly sounds of a murder then enacting in tragic reality close to 
them, produced upon them the most painful and distressing feelings, aggra- 
vated, too, by other circumstances of annoyance that now began to thicken 
around them. 

It was perceived that " the spirits" seemed to select or require the presence 
of the two younger girls of the family for the production of the sounds, and 
though these had been made zvithoiit them, especially on the night of the 31st 
of March, when all the family save Mr. Fox were absent from the house, 
still, as curiosity prompted them to close observation of, and conversation 
with the invisible power, it was clear that the manifestations became more 
powerful in the presence of Kate, the youngest sister, than with any one else. 

As the house was continually thronged with curious inquirers, and the 
time, comfort, and peace of the family Avere consumed in these harassing 
disturbances, besides the most absurd though injurious suspicions being cast 
upon them, they endeavored to baffle the haunters by sending Kate to reside 
with her eldest sister, Mrs. Fish, at Rochester ; but no sooner was she gone 
than the manifestations re-commenced, with more force than ever, in the 
presence of Margaretta, the second sister. In course of time, Mrs. Fox, with 
both her daughters, took up their residence in Rochester ; but neither change 
of place nor house, nor yet the separation of the family, afforded them any 
relief from the disturbances that now evidently attached themselves to per- 
sons rather than to places, as formerly. Although the Fox family had for 
months sedulously striven to banish the power that tormented them, praying 
with all the fervor of true Methodism to be released frojn it, and enduring 
fear, loss, and anxiety in its continuance, the report of its persistent mani- 
festation began to spread abroad, causing a rain of persecution to fall upon 
them from all quarters. 

The respectable parents were so severely censured and so impertinently 
lectured by their minister — who should have been the foremost to sustain 
them in their heavy visitations — that they were obliged to sever their long- 
cherished and hitherto unblemished relations with their church. Old friends 
looked coldly on them, and strangers circulated the most atrocious slanders 
at their expense. 

Mrs. Fish, the eldest sister, who was a teacher of music in Rochester, be- 
gan to lose her professional connections ; and vt^hilst the sudden blanching of 
the poor mother's hair in a si?igle week bore testimony to the mental tortures 
which supra-mundane terrors and mundane cruelties had heaped upon them, 
the world was taunting them with originating, in wilful imposture, the very 
manifestations which were destroying their health, peace of mind, good name, 
and fortunes. Notwithstanding their dislike of the notoriety that these mani- 
festations brought upon them, however, it was impossible to avoid it. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 39 

Tliey had solicited the advice of their much-respected friend, Isaac Post, 
a high!}'' esteemed Quaker citizen of Rochester, and, at his suggestion, suc- 
ceeded in communicating by raps \A\\x the invisible power, through the 
alphabet. Thus telegraphic numbers were given to signify "yes," "no," 
" doubtful," etc., and sentences v/ere spelled out, by which were learned the 
astounding facts that not only " Charles Rosna," the supposed murdered 
pedler, but hosts of spirits, good and bad, high and low, could, under certain 
conditions not understood, and impossible for mortals yet to comprehend, 
communicate with earth ; that such communication was produced through 
the forces of spiritual and human magnetism, in chemical affinity ; that the 
varieties of magnetism in different individuals afforded "medium power" to 
some, and denied it to others ; that the magnetic relations necessary to 
produce phenomena were very subtle, liable to disturbance, and singularly 
susceptible to the influence of mental emotions ; that the spirits chiefly 
concerned in the inauguration of this telegraphy were philosophic and scien- 
tific minds, many of Avhom had made the study of electricity and other 
imponderables a specialty in the earth-life, and jDrominent among them the 
name of Dr. Benjamin Franklin was frequently given. In addition to com- 
munications purporting thus to explain the object and sonlething of the 
modus operandi of the communion, numerous spirit friends of the family, and 
those who joined in their investigations, gladdened the hearts of their as- 
tonished relatives by direct and unlooked-for tests of their presence. They 
came spelling out their names, ages, and various tokens of identity con^ectly, 
and proclaiming the joyful tidings that they all "still lived," "still loved," 
and with the tenderness of human affection, and the wisdom of a higher 
sphere of existence, watched over and guided the beloved ones who had 
mourned them as dead, with all the gracious ministry of guardian angels. 

The spirits recommended the assembling of the friends of the family 
together in harmonious meetings, which have since obtained the name of 
"spirit circles," and at these, the practice of animal magnetism to some 
of the parties present was suggested, as a means of evoking the phenomena 
of clairvoyance. 

But redolent of joy and consolation as is the intercourse with beloved 
spirit friends at this time when orderly communion has succeeded to 
doubtful experiment, it must not be supposed that any such harmonious 
results characterized the initiatory proceedings of the spiritual movement in 
Rochester. "VVithin and without the dwellings of the mediums, all was fear, 
consternation, doubt, and anxiety. 

Several persons possessed of clairvoyant and clairaudient powers had 
been developed as mediums by magnetism. But in the meantime fanatical 
religionists of different sects had forced themselves into the family gatherings, 
and the wildest scenes of rant, cant, and absurdity often ensued. Opinions 
of the most astounding nature were hazarded concerning the object of this 
movement; some determining that it was a "millenium," and looking for 
the speedy reign of a personal Messiah and the equally speedy destruction 
of the wdcked. Boisterous sounds accompanied the fervent prayers of the 
ranters, and wild confusion, in which invisible actors played their weird 
part, added to the distraction of the already tortured mediums. 

A Mr. Calvin Brown, who resided in the house of Mrs. Fish, and after- 
wards became her husband, being particularly opposed to the manifestations, 
•seemed to be selected by the spirits as a marlced butt for their Puck-like 
pranks. They threw books, pamphlets, and other small articles about his 
person, and though — one occasion alone excepted — they never struck him 



40 HISTORY OF MODERN 

with sufficient force to cause him the least injury, they persecuted him by 
inteUigent signs and movements of so violent, erratic, and even spiteful a 
character, as to compel him at last to own and respect their power. They 
often threw about the house blocks of wood with sentences written on them 
for the encouragement and instruction of the family, who uniformly con- 
ducted themselves gently, piously, and in fact admirably, in the midst of the 
trying scenes they were passing through. 

It must not be supposed that the clergy were idle spectators of the 
tumultuous wave that was sweeping over the city. On the contrary, several 
of them called on Mrs. Fox with offers to "exorcise the spirits;" and when 
they found their attempts were futile, and that though the spirits would rap 
in chorus to the "aniens" with which they concluded their incantations, they 
were otherwise unmoved by these reverend performances, they generally 
ended by proclaiming abroad that the family were "in league with the evil 
one" or the authors of a "vile imposture." Honorable exceptions, how- 
ever, were found to this cowardly and unchristian course, and amongst these 
was the Rev. A. H. Jervis, a Methodist minister, of Rochester, in whose 
family remarkable manifestations occurred of the same character as in that 
of the Foxes, and whose appreciation of the beauty and worth of the com- 
munications he received several of his published letters bear witness of. 
Mr. Lyman Granger, Rev. Charles Hammond, Deacon Hale, and several 
other families of v/ealth and influence, both in Rochester and the surrounding 
towns, also began to experience similar phenomena in their own households, 
while the news came from all quarters, extending as far as Cincinnati and 
St. Louis, West, and Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York, 
East, that the mysterious rappings and other phases of what is now called 
"medium power" were rapidly spreading from town to town and State to 
State, in fulfilment of an assurance made in the very first of the communion 
to the Misses Fox, namely, "that these manifestations were not to be con- 
fined to them, but would go all over the world." Notwithstanding the fact 
that many persons besides the Fox family became distinguished as mediums 
for the sounds, movements of furniture, and other manifestations of supra- 
mundane intelligence, and that every day saw some new development of 
"the power" in families whose wealth and position placed them beyond the 
reach of suspicion or the possibility of collusion, so startling and unparalleled 
had been the first appearance of the phenomena that it seemed impossible 
for the public mind to dissever their origin and continued practice from the 
Fox family. 

They were still called the " Rochester knockers," the " Fox girls," the 
"rappers," and other epithets, equally foolish and cruelly obnoxious to their 
interests and feelings. Catharine Fox, the youngest girl, had been removed 
to the house of Mr. E. W. Capron, of Auburn. Mrs. Fish, though generally 
present when phenomena were transpiring, was not in its earliest phases 
conscious of being a medium. Margaretta, the second sister, was then in 
reality the only one through whom the manifestations appeared to proceed, 
when in November, 1848, the spirits, who had long been urging them to 
permit public investigations to be made through her mediumship, informed 
them by raps that "they could not always strive with them," and since they 
were constantly disobedient to the spirits' requests, and obviously opposed 
to their presence, they should leave them, and in all probability withdraw 
for another generation, or seek through other sources for the fulfilment 
of the high and holy purposes with which this spiritual outpouring had been 
designed. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 41 

To these appeals the family were inflexible. They constantly prayed 
that the cup of this great bitterness "might pass from them." They "did 
not wish to be mediums," and abhorred the notoriety, scandal, and persecu- 
tion which their fatal gift had brought upon them, and when warned that 
the spirits would leave them they protested their delight at the announce- 
ment, and expressed their earnest desire that it might be fulfilled. There 
were present at a circle, when communications of this character were made, 
several influential persons of the city, who had become greatly interested 
in the manifestations and were warm friends of the family. They could 
not, however, realize that the threat here implied would actually be fullilled 
until the spirits, by rappings, spelled out several messages of a particularly 
affectionate and valedictory character. The scene became, says an eye- 
witness, solemn and impressive. The spirits announced that in twenty 
minutes they would depart, and exactly as that time expired, they spelled 
out, "We will now bid you all farewell;" when the raps entirely ceased. 
The family expressed themselves "glad to be rid of them;" the friends 
present vainly tried to obtain, by solicitations, made, as it would seem, to 
empty air, some demonstration that this beneircent and Avonderful visitation 
had not indeed wholly ceased. All v/as useless. A mournful silence filled 
the apartment which had but a few minutes before been tenanted with 
angels, sounding out their dear messages of undying affection, tender 
counsel, wise instruction, and prescient warning. The spirits indeed were 
gone ; and as one by one the depressed party separated and passed out into 
the silent moonlit streets of Rochester, all and each of them felt as if some 
great light had suddenly gone out, and life was changed to them. There 
was a mighty blank in space, and a shadow everywhere, but spirit light 
came no more to illuminate the thick darkness. 

A fortnight passed away, during which the former investigators called 
constantly on the Fox family to inquire if their spirit friends had returned. 
For the first few days a stoical negative vras their only reply; after this, 
they began more and more fully to recognize the loss they had sustained. 
The wise counsellors were gone; the sources of strange strength and super- 
human consolation were cut off. The tender, loving, wonderful presence, 
no more flitted around their steps, cheered their meals, encouraged them 
in their human weakness, or guided them in their blindness. And these 
most v/onderful and providential beings their own waywardness had driven 
from them. At last, then, they met their inquiring friends with showers 
of tears, choking sobs, and expressions of the bitterest self-reproach and 
regret. On the twelfth day of this great heart-dearth JNIr. E. W. Capron, 
being in Rochester on business, called at the house of Mrs. Fish, with 
George Willetts, a member of the Society of Friends, and one of their 
earliest spiritual investigators. On receiving the usual sorrowful reply 
"that the spirits had left them," Mr. Capron said, "Perhaps they will rap 
for us if not for you." They then entered the hall, and put the usual 
question if the spirits would rap for them, in answer to which, and to the 
unspeakable joy and delight of all present, they were greeted with a perfect 
shower of the much-lamented sounds. Mrs. Fish, now Mrs. Underhill, 
often declares to this day that if suddenly, fortune, friends, and all they 
had ever loved had been snatched from them, and as suddenly returned 
in an hour of despair and agony, their emotions could have scarcely equalled 
the ecstacy with which they once more greeted those precious returning 
proofs that their spirit friends had not deserted them. In fact, in the 
enthusiasm of that returning morning of long-quenched spiritual light, they 



42 HISTORY OF MODERN 

knelt down and kissed the ground made sacred by the electric tones of the 
heavenly telegraph. And now once more the s^^irits urged them to make 
the manifestations public. 

Again they reiterated the charge with solemn earnestness, and despite of 
the mediums' continued aversion to the task imposed upon them, the fear 
of a fresh and final bereavement of the inestimable boon of spirit com- 
munion prevented their continued resistance to the course proposed. 
When the persons who were called upon to aid the mediums and take some- 
what prominent parts in the work urged the awkwardness of the positions 
assigned them, the spirits only replied, "Your triumph will be so much the 
greater." Chere is no doubt that the severe warning they had just received, 
and the fear of its repetition, acted upon the whole party with more force 
than any argument that could have been used to induce their submission. 
Certain it is that they at length consented, one and all, to do the bidding 
of the spirits ; but as their first public demonstration of the modern spiritual 
movement requires more accuracy of detail than history has yet assigned 
to it, we shall reserve its description for another chapter. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CORINTHIAN HALL, OR THE FIRST PUBLIC INVESTIGATION OF SPIRITUALISM. 

'"Tis bitter to endure the wrong 

Which evil hands and tongues commit ; 
The bold encroachments of the strong. 

The shafts of calumny and wit ; 
The scornful bearing of the proud. 
The sneers and laughter of the crowd. 
, Conscious of purity and worth, 

We may with calm assurance wait 

The tardy recompense of earth : 
And e'en though justice come too late 

To soothe the spirit's homeward flight. 

Still heaven at last the wrong shall right." 

Psalms of Life. 

Rochester Science and Piety in 1849 — Law and Divinity Trying the 
Spirits — The Brave Followers of George Fox — Testimony of George 
WiLLETTs, Rev. C. Hammond, and A. H. Jervis — Dr. Benjamin Franklin 
AS A Spirit and Spiritual Electricity. 

The first public investigation into the possibility of communion between 
the world of spirits and the earth they once inhabited — between bereaved 
mourners and the mysterious dwellers of an unknown land, claiming identity 
with the beloved ones thus mourned — should, as it would seem, have inspired 
the whole community with feelings of the most profound interest and solemn 
reverence. The scene of inquiry should have been a place dedicated to the 
sacred offices of religion, and the inquisitors the men who, above all others, 
profess to teach the doctrine of the soul's immortality. 

Far otherwise, however, did the ignorance and bigotry of the times decree 
that the investigation should be conducted. The spirits, through the rap- 
pings, both in the presence of Margaretta Fox in Rochester, and Catharine in 
Auburn, simultaneoulsy spelled out the same urgent requests that the family 
would challenge public scrutiny and scientific investigation. The compliaiice 
which they finally yielded was not only made on the grounds mentioned m 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 43 

the last chapter, but also on the promise of the spirits that they would take 
part in a public inquiry by rapping loud enough to be heard by an assembled 
audience. After several trials in private houses, it was conceded that the 
raps were loud enough to sound distinctly in a large hall, before a crowded 
auditory. 

The order of proceedings indicated by the spirits arranged that " Corin- 
thian Hall," the largest public place of meeting in Rochester, should be 
hired, and a lecture given, narrating in plain and terse language the origin 
and progress of the manifestations from their commencement to their present 
date. Afterwards it was directed that a committee should be chosen from 
the most respectable of the audience present, who should have charge on 
the following day to investigate the subject in private, and report to an audi- 
ence each evening on three successive occasions. It was promised that the 
sounds should be made during the progress of the proceedings with sufficient 
force to be heard throughout the hall ; a promise that was amply redeemed 
by the spirits in clear and distinct rappings. Mr. E. W. Capron, of Auburn, 
was selected "to deliver the address; Air. George Willetts and Mr. Isaac Post 
to attend to the business arrangements ; Mrs. Amy Post, a few other ladies, 
and the Rev. A. PI. Jervis, N. Draper, Lyman Granger, and other well- 
known citizens, to accompany the mediums on to the platform. 

Many of the parties thu? honored by the selection of the spirits were 
exceedingly unwilling to accept the equivocal and embarrassing positions 
assigned to them ; better feelings and the urgency of the communications at 
length prevailed, however, and the first meeting in the exact order prescribed 
by the spirits took place on the evening of November 14th, 1849. The 
address was given by Mr. Capron in a manner at once so truthful and inter- 
esting that it commanded the respectful attention of a numerous audience. 
The silence was only broken by the clear tones of the speaker, and the dis- 
tinctly audible, though muffled sounds of the raps, which constantly empha- 
sized the striking passages of the address. At its close, a committee to 
investigate the subject and report on the next evening was chosen by the 
audience, consisting of the following persons, all highly respectable and 
responsible citizens of Rochester : Messrs A. J. Combs, Daniel Marsh, Na- 
thaniel Clark, K. Judson, and Edwin Jones. From unquestionable authority 
we learn that in the office of the Rochester Democrat^ an elaborate article 
was prepared, announcing "the entire explosion of the rapping humbug;" 
but though the article in question, to save time, was actually set up in type, 
yet the editors, to save credit, deferred its publication after the report of the 
committee.was publicly rendered in the following terms : 

"That without the knowledge of the persons in whose pi-esence the manifestations are 
made, the committee selected the hall of the Sons of Temperance for investigation ; that 
the somids on the floor near where the two ladies stood were heard as distinctly as at other 
places, and that part of the committee heard the rapping on the wall behind them ; that a 
number of questions were asked, which were answered not altogether right nor altogether 
wrong ; that in the afternoon they went to the house of a private citizen, and while there 
the sounds Avere heard on the outside of the front door, after they had entered, and on the 
door of a closet. By placing the hand upon the door, there was a sensible jar felt when 
the rapping was heard. One of the committee placed one of his Iiands upon the feet 
of the ladies and the other on the floor, and though the feet were not moved there was 
a distinct jar on the floor. On \.\\s. pavement ■s.Vl^ on the grotmd ih.Q same sounds were 
heard. When the ladies were separated at a distance no sound was heard, but when a third 
person was interposed between them the sounds were heard. The ladies seemed to give 
every opportunity to the committee to investigate the cause fully, and would submit to a 
thorough investigation by a committee of ladies, if desired. They aU agreed that the 
sounds were heard, but they enti7-ely failed to discover any means by which it could bt 
done." 



44 HISTORY OF MODERN 

This report was delivered to an eager and excited audience on the second 
pubhc night, and seemed to fall Hke a thunder-bolt on many of those assem- 
bled, who had obviously come in the expectation of receiving one of a very 
different and far less favorable character. 

After some discussion, which already pointed to a disapproval of the re- 
port, and a wish to find the mediums guilty of imposture, another committee 
was appointed by the audience, such persons being named as were least 
likely to be favorable to the spiritual hypothesis of the sounds. 

The gentlemen thus selected were Dr. H. H. Langworthy, Hon. Frederick 
[Counsellor] Whittlesey, D. C. McCallum, William Fisher, and Hon. A. P. 
Hascall, of LeRoy. 

The ladies had been subject to examinations by the former committee, the 
rigidity of which was not one of the statements brought before the public. 
Their feelings were often outraged, their statements doubted, and their pecu- 
liarly sensitive natures wounded to agony by the cold, severe, and often 
sneering scrutiny to which they were subjected. Happily for them the spirit 
friends behind the scenes encouraged and cheered them, often warning them 
of the disagreeable nature of what they would have to encounter, of the 
."hard and angular characters" of some of their judges, and the amenable 
and spiritual natures of others. 

The little great men whose verdict was to render forever to mankind the 
truth or falsehood of man's relations with ministering spirits, had no idea 
what a shrewd and analytical spirit painting of themselves had already un- 
masked them to those they pretended to judge, ere they themselves entered 
on the farce of trying the spirits. 

Still these two committees were so far honest in their search, and candid 
enough in their report, as greatly to incense the audiences which each night 
assembled, not to hear the truth, but rather in expectation of a report which 
should proclaim the Fox family impostors. 

The second investigation was conducted, to avoid all possibility of decep- 
tion, at the office of Counsellor Whittlesey. The ladies were placed in va- 
rious positions, together and separate, but though the only avowed medium 
was Margaret, Mr. Fish not deeming she had the " power," and Catharine 
being absent at Auburn, the sounds were heard on the floor, chairs, table, 
walls, door, and, in fact, everywhere. Dr. Langworthy tested the possibility 
of their being ventriloquism by the use of the stethescope, and the joint re- 
port of the committee was that "the sounds were heard, and their thorough 
investigation had conclusively shown them to be produced neither by ma- 
chinery nor ventriloquism, though what the agent was, the}^ were unable to 
determine." 

It would be impossible to describe the indignation that was manifested at 
this second failure, and a third committee was immediately chosen, whose 
sneers and scoffing remarks seemed their chief recommendation to the office. 
As a specimen of the animus of these investigations, it may be mentioned 
that one of them — Mr. Lewis Burtis — declared, "the girls wouldn't have 
him on the committee for a hundred dollars." Another — Mr. L. Kenyon — 
" that if he could not find out the trick he would throw himself over Genes- 
see Falls." In addition to these persons were Drs. Langworthy and Gates, 
and William Fitzhugh. To the honor of this committee be it said, that despite 
the most severe and inquisitorial treatment, conducted with circumstances of 
severity that are quite as well omitted from the record, they reported entirely 
in the ladies' favor, although Mr. Burtis frankly owned himself beaten, and 
Mr. Kenyon did not either tlirow himself over the Falls or pretend that he 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 45 

could "find out the trick." In addition to this final examination under pub- 
lic auspices, the committee appointed another to assist them in their investi- 
gation, composed of ladies, by whom the clothing of the mediums was 
thoroughly searched, and even their shoes, stockings, and under-garments 
minutely examined. The poor girls wept bitterly during this ordeal; still 
they submitted to it, though shame and indignation wrought up their feelings 
to so severe a pitch that their sobs and lamentations were heard by 'some of 
their friends who had been purposely excluded from the room. One of these, 
a sweet Quaker lady — Mrs. Amy Post — vdio throughout the whole of their 
bitter trials had lent them the aid of her gentle counsel and the strength of her 
irreproachable name, at last insisted upon forcing her way into the chamber 
where the poor girls were disrobed and undergoing examination. No sooner 
did the sight of her friendly face greet them than they threw themselves into 
her arms, and the favorable revulsion of feeling occasioned by her presence 
had the etfect of producing what the severe scrutiny of antagonism had neu- 
tralized, namely, a perfect shower of raps, from which point the sounds were 
loud and frequent, responding to questions, and rapping whilst they stood 
with bare feet on pillows, glass, and other substances \_siipposed to be non-coti- 
ducfors of electricity], or with their dresses tightly tied to their ankles. In 
all these positions the raps were distinctly heard on the floor and Avails, in 
proof of which we extract the following passage from the certificate of the 
Ladies Committee : 

" When they were standing on pillows, with a handkerchief tied aronnd the bottom of 
their dresses, tight to the ankles, we all heard the rapping on the wall and floor distinctly. 

[Signed] "Mrs. Stone, 

Mrs. J. Gates, 

Mrs. M. p. Lawrence." 

Notwithstanding the confidence wliich the poor family had in their own in- 
tegrity and the strength and fidelity of the spirits, the power of public opinion 
was so strong against them, and the reports from without Avere of so alarming 
a character, that they almost shrank from the linal trial that Avas demanded of 
them, namely, to present themselves for the fourth time on the platform, dur- 
ing the presentation of the last report. 

The two first committees had frankly declared to Miss Fox their opinions 
of her perfect honesty; but it AA^as evident they disliked the task of presenting 
themselves before the excited crowds that had threatened to assemble at 
Corinthian Hall that night, and "lynch the rappers and their advocates too," 
provided the report of the third committee should be in their favor. Al- 
though the feeling of those AA'ho had come prepared for mischief Avas unmis- 
takable, the committee, opposed as they had been to the mediums the night 
before, Avere honest in their statements. "They had heard the sounds," 
they said, "and failed iitte?-ly to discover their origi7i. They had proved 
that neither machinery nor imposture had been used, and their questions, 
many of them being mental, AA-ere ansAvered correctly." .... 

Each member of the committee reported separately, and fully corroborated 
the others ; and then it Avas that a scene of confusion ensued, equally impos- 
sible to describe and discreditable to record. 

Mrs. Fish and Amy Post, though, to use their ovra Avords, they AA^ere " no 
mediums," had accompanied the pale and shrinking Margaretta on the plat- 
form, ready to defend or share her danger. 

But the poor ladies Avere not alone ; Isaac Post, the Rev. A. H. Jei-vis, and 
a feAV other true men, and therefore gentlemen, Avere on guard, determined to 



46 HISTORY OF MODERN 

protect, or if need be ''perish with the martyrs to this unpopular but unques- 
tionable truth," whilst George Willetts, whose peaceful religion as a Quaker 
lent peculiar emphasis to his words, declared " that the mob of ruffians who 
designed to lynch 'the girls,' should do so — if they attempted it — over his 
dead body." 

Sustained by this faithful little band, Margaretta Fox and her friends pre- 
sented themselves on the platform ; but immediately following the reports of 
the different members of the committee, Josiah Bissell, writing himself " Esq." 
and "gentleman," proceeded to distribute torpedoes amongst "the boys," and 
,on every side the explosion of these noisy tormentors distracted the ears and 
stimulated the ribald jokes of the mob against the "rappers." A "gentle- 
man," who had recently filled the post of alderman, led another gang of 
disturbers ; whilst two more prominent citizens, by the name of Jerome, 
gentlemen, who, as attached to a daily American paper, were supposed to be 
leaders of pubUc opinion, together with a certain Major Packard, .undertook 
to state that the sounds were made by leaden balls fastened to the "females' " 
dresses. They then mounted the platform and invited up the "rowdies" 
for "investigation," until the police, perceiving the disgraceful turn the pro- 
ceedings were taking, urged the ladies and their friends to retire, and after 
carefully guarding them home, were compelled to disperse the meeting by 
threatening the principal gentlemen present to arrest them as authors and 
instigators of the disturbance. 

And thus ended an investigation into the sublime and occult mysteries of 
the communion between the natural and spiritual worlds, in which gentlemen, 
magistrates, editors, and professional men were the judges, and enlightened 
American citizens the jury ; and thus too ended the experiment of entrusting 
any truth that has not yet been endorsed with the label of popularity, to the 
censorship of the men who assume to be leaders of public opinion. Spiritual 
agencies Avere wiser in days of yore, and entrusted the promulgation of 
divine truth to fishermen and Galileans rather than to Scribes and Phari- 
sees ; nevertheless, though the elite of Rochester citizenship was " called but 
not chosen," the cause they attempted to disgrace rose triumphantly out of the 
ruins they strove to create. The aim of wide-spread publicity was attained. 
The very bitterness of the opposition provoked disscussion, and thousands heard 
of, wondered at, investigated, and finally believed in, spiritual communion who 
would never have dreamed of the subject but for the persecution and slander 
that was publicly directed against the " Rochester knockings." But the spirit 
of persecution did not cease at Corinthian Hall. A feeling of determined 
and relentless antagonism was excited against the subject by the very impos- 
sibility of finding it out or crushing it down. Believers began to multiply ; 
mediums sprang up in families whose wealth and position removed them 
from the least suspicion of imposture ; and since it was impossible to reach 
these, or strike the hydra-headed monster in its now hourly-increasing mag- 
nitude, the only resort of the unreasoning spirit of persecution, which seems 
to be an unaccountable element developed by the advent of all new move- 
ments, was to strike at the humble and obnoxious Fox family. 

Notwithstanding the fact that up to the date of the first manifestations 
they had lived in the enjoyment of respect and an unblemished name from 
all who knew them, from this time forth the malignant blows that were aimed 
against the cause of Spiritualism were first levelled at them, and even now, 
their fair fame is blurred in the city of Rochester by meaningless slanders 
that once lamiched upon the relentless billows of time drift on forever, and 
though they may ultimately be swept away by the tides of oblivion, yet 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 47 

never return upon their track to render justice at the point from whence 
they started. 

Before taking leave of the fortunes of this remarkable family, it will be 
necessary to the clear understanding of the influence for good which Spirit- 
ualism from the first assumed towards mankind, that we should present some 
of the views of the earliest investigators into this subject, in the form of 
certain letters which they themselves wrote in private correspondence, but 
which the irresistible logic of events has converted into testimony, rendered 
invaluable from its unpremeditated character and the obvious disinterested- 
ness of its authors. 

The first letter which we shall present is from the pen of Mr. George 
Willetts, who was known to all his acquaintances as a man of the most un- 
impeachable integrity and truthfulness. , Mr. Willetts' s conviction of the 
spiritual origin of the rappings became strong enough to induce him to take 
the noble and prominent part in the Corinthian Hall inquisition above 
noticed. His letter is addressed to Mr. E. W. Capron, of Auburn, who 
publishes it in his work on " The Facts and Fanaticisms of Modern Spirit- 
ualism." Our extract is taken from Dr. Campbell's pamphlet on the Roches- 
ter knockings : 

" Dear Friend, E. W. Capron : — It is with some reluctance that I furnish you with 
the following statement ; not that I am afraid to tell you the truth, but that the world, as 
I conceive, is not ready to receive such truths yet. Ridicule, probably, will be heaped upon 
me ; but when I consider that it is the ignorant only who use that weapon, perhaps I can 
afford to stand up and say, ' let the storm come.' AU who know me can say whether I have 
been truthful from my youth up, yea or nay; and the strongest language that I can use is 
to say that the following statement is strictly and entirely true : 

" 'In the summer of 1848, I had concluded, from the best judgment that I could bring 
to my aid, that it was right for my family to remove somewhere amongst the wilds of the 
West. Accordingly I took a tour of observation, and finding some land in Michigan that 
suited me better than any other, belonging to a gentleman living in Rochester, I stopped there 
on my return, in order, if possible, to negotiate for it. I staid wth my friend and relative, 
Isaac Post, and while there he told me of certain sounds being heard in the city, and that 
they displayed intelligence and purported to be made by spirits, or persons invisible to us. 
I was really sceptical about any such things, but at his solicitation went to examine it. The 
person with whom these sounds seemed to be I had never seen or heard of before, and my 
friend was careful not to tell them v/ho I was or where I had been. It seems that the 
question was asked whether there was any communication for me, and the direction from 
the sounds was that three persons be magnetized ; tv/o of them were present, and one was 
sent for from a neighboring family. I did not know the name of any person present ; and 
I was also certain that no one knew me. After the three persons were put in the ' clair- 
voyant state,' one of them said, ' We have to go to Michigan.' They all agreed that they 
had to go there, and began to describe places and things which I had seen, and at length 
came to a piece of land which they said was the place they came to look at. They then 
described the land so accurately which I had stopped in Rochester to buy that I began to 
wonder 'who had told them.' They all with one accord then said, ' But he must not go 
there. His father says he had better not go.' As they said this, there came a loud sound 
close by my chair, and I sat some distance from any other person. They spoke much of 
iny father, and what his mind was, and at each time that same sound was heard and the jar 
distinctly felt close by myself. They then said, * His mother thinks it is not best.' As they 
spoke this a different sound, not quite so loud, was heard, still close by me. Then, ' that 
my sister said it was not best.' Another and different sound still was heard. Up to this 
time I had not spoken a word, but found the big drops of perspiration starting from my 
face. I gathered courage and thought I would dispel that illusion directly ; I said, ' As you 
assume to know iny father and what his mind is concerning me, perhaps you can tell his 
name.' They all seemed to look steadily for some time, then commenced and spoke slowly 
and deliberately these letters : William Willetts. At each letter the loud sound that I first 
heard was again heard and felt immediately under my feet. I never was so astonished in 
my life, and involuntarily said, ' What does all this mean ? ' The sounds then said, by the 
alphabet being called over, ' that they had better be awakened ; ' and the first loud soiuid 



48 HISTORY OF MODERN 

said, * I will talk with George and tell him all about it.' The direction was for ]\Ir. Post, 
myself, and a little girl [Catharine Fox] thirteen years old, to go by ourselves. And here I 
wish it distinctly understood that all which I shall relate as obtained from these sounds was 
in the presence only of my friends Mr. and Mrs. Post, myself, and the little girl spoken of. 
As what follows all purported to be from my father, I will say that his name was William 
"Willetts, a member of the Society of Friends, widely known at Westbury, Long I?land, 
Avhere he lived until nearly sixty years of age, and subsequently at Skaneateles, Onandagua 
County, where he died in 1841. The communication by sounds then went on to say that 
it was my father that was present and talking with me, and three hours were consumed at 
the first interview. In saying to me what his counsel was it always assumed to counsel 
and advise, but never to dictate. He said that it was not best for us to go to Michigan, 
and gave various reasons, among which -were that we should not enjoy ourselves in a new 
country, and that my health would not be competent for the task of clearing up new land, 
and he foresaw, if we did go, we should come back again and would be less in numl^er than 
when we went. I then asked what was best to do. The answer was, 'Come to Rochester.' 
I replied that I knew of no business that I could do in Rochester. The sounds said, ' I 
will tell thee when thee comes.' I askecf if I might know now. The answer was, 'No, 
I did not need any business until I came, and then he would tell me.' The sounds then 
said that after a time it would be best for me to buy some land. I asked where. The 
sounds then spelled out the name of a man whom no one present knew, and said 
that he owned fifty acres of land on such a street adjoining the city, and such a distance 
from the centre of the city ; that he would sell any part. I asked the price that would be 
asked. The sounds v/ere heard and counted by three of us — one hundred and fifty times in 
succession — to tell us the number of dollars per acre that would be asked. The sounds 
said that we had better go the next day and see if this was so, and said that we should not 
see the man until ten o'clock, although we might look for him as early as we pleased. In 
the morning I looked in the Directory and there found the name spelled out to us, and went 
to his residence at seven o'clock, and was informed that he was gone to a distant part of . 
the city, and would not be home until twelve o'clock. We then went to find him, and had 
some difficulty to do so, but after talking with him five or six minutes looked at the time 
and it luas seveji mimites past ten ! This person said that he owned fifty acres on the 
street told us by the sounds, and said that he would sell any part. When I asked him the 
price he showed me a map with the price of each lot marked, and taking the number of 
acres said by the sounds to be best to buy, and averaging the price, it was just upon one 
hundred and fifty dollars per acre. I then Avent home to my family and pondered over 
these strange things. Many were the conflicts in my own mind, and I heard the cry from 
all quarters, 'humbug,' 'deception,' 'fraud,' but I could not believe that I wanted to de- 
ceive myself. Three months I thought of these things deeply, and / cottld not go to 
Michigan. I concluded if it was deception it would do the world some good to find it 
out. The first of December, 1848, I moved from Vv''aterloo to Rochester. A few days 
after getting here, the little girl spoken of came round to our house and said that the ' spirit ' 
had directed her to come, for v/hat purpose she did not knov/. We inquired what it was, 
and this was the communication : ' I told thee if thee would come to Rochester I would 
tell thee where thee could find employment ; in four days from this I will tell thee. In the 
meantime the anti-slavery folks are going to liold their Fair ; vrould it not be well for thee 
to help them? ' No one was present at this time except my wife, the little girl, and myself. 
The four days went by, and again, without solicitation and without .thinking the time was 
up, the little girl came again. The communication was, ' Apply to W^illiam Wiley, Super- 
intendent of the Auburn and Rochester Railroad, to-morrow at two o'olock, at his office, 
for a situation, and thee v/ill have one before this week is out.' This was Thursday. I 
was a stranger to Mr. Wiley, and I called on Mr. Post and told him the direction, and 
asked him if the next day he would go with me. That evening he, happening to be at the 
depot, inquired if Mr. Wiley was at home, and was told that he was in Boston, and by a 
letter just received would not be at home till Friday night. I was told by the sounds on 
Wednesday to apply on Thursday at two o'clock. Thursday at half-past one, instead of 
going to the railroad ofSce, I went round to where these sounds were heard, and said, ' How 
is this? I am told to apply to William Wiley, and he is in Boston.' The sounds said, 
^Go to his office noio ; he is there.^ I called for Mr. Post and walked immediately there, 
3.1x6. found Mr. Wiley in /lis office. lie said that he had returned sooner than he expected 
to v/hen he wrote the letter. Mr. Post said that I M-as a relative of his and wished employ- 
ment, and Mr. Wiley replied that they were all full, with abundant applications, and he could 
give no encouragement whatever. We walked back, thinking deeply, and I went where the 
sounds were heard again. I inquired, ' liow is this? Mr. Wiley has no place for me.' 
The answer was, 'Thee zvill have a place on the cars, and will knovj it before the week 
is out.'" 



AMERTCAN SPIRIl^UALISM. 49 

"On Saturday night, at darlc, I met Mr. Post, and he ashed if I had heard anj'thing from 
Mr. Wiley, I replied, 'Not a word.' At eight o'clock on that same evening, Mr. Post 
called at my house, and said that Mr. Wiley had just been at his store and said that he had 
a place for me, and wished me to call at his office on Monday morning. As Mr. Wiley did 
not tell what place I v/as to fili, I again asked the sounds v/hat it was ; and they said ' that 
it was to go as baggage-master between this place and Auburn.' On Sunday morning I 
wrote to my friend James Trueman, of Waterloo, stating that I should pass through that 
place on Monday following — in the capacity above stated — before I knew from Mr. Wiley 
what place he wanted me to fill, and he can testifj' to that fact. One month after I had 
been running on the cars, I learned that the person Vt'hose place I took had done things 
worthy of a dismissal previous to my being directed to make application, and which did not 
come to Mr. Wiley's notice till the day on which I received the appointment. These things 
have only been known to a few friends; you and the world nov/ have them. I have many 
communications, penned down at the time they were received, purporting to be from my 
father, all of the most elevating character, inciting me to goodness, purity, and honesty of 
heart, and ever pointing to the endless progi^ession of man. In conclusion, I may say that 
I have e::amined the matter attentively for one year and a half, and have had abundant op- 
portunity to do so, and am prepared to say, although the sounds may cease to-day and 
never be heard again, they have displayed a remarkable degixe of intelligence, and were not 
made by any person visible to us. 

"George Willetts." 

The next letter we shall quote is from the Rev. C. Hammond, and though 
it contains no proofs of spirit identity of a very striking character, it is 
inserted in reference to the singular worth of the writer and the weight which 
is due to his respected testimony. Mr. Hammond, subsequent to tlie dicta- 
tion of this letter, became an excellent writing medium himself, and the 
publisher of a voluminous collection of "communications from the spirit- 
world," written through his mediumship. 

Considering that Mr. Hammond was content to sacrifice good name, fame, 
and livelihood in his defence of the unpopular cause he espoused, credence 
should be assigned to him for his sincerity, if denied on behalf of his moral 
worth. 

LETTER FROM THE REV. C. HAiMTiIGND. 

"Mr. D. M. Dewey: Dear Sir, — • In compliance with your solicitation, I will proceed 
to lay before you a brief statement of what has fallen under my observation, in regard to 
the 'mysterious sounds' and 'demonstrations,' purporting to be made by intelligent spirits, 
who once inhabited an earthly tabernacle. It is quite probable that many others may have 
had more convincing and satisfactory evidences of the real presence of their departed, or, as 
I should say, deceased friends, than myself; yet I am free to acknowledge my inability to 
account for these marvellous manifestations by any law recognized in science or philosophy ; 
nor am I awai'e of having an organization so extra-credulous as to admit theoretical 
propositions, without facts to sustain them. If, therefore, imposition and deception have 
'humbugged' me,into a conviction that the 'sounds' and 'demonstrations' v>-hich I have 
witnessed originate in any cause other than those assigned in this narrative, the person who 
shall disclose the mystery and detect the fraud will receive my grateful acknowledgments. 

"In t'ne early part of January last, in company with other persons, I gained an introduc- ' 
tion to the family in this city in whose residence these sounds had been heard. They received 
us politely, and seemed ratlier more cheerful than what I had supposed would be natural for 
those who were hourly exchanging communications with the spirits of the dead. A company 
of tv/enty or more persons had assembled; the 'three sisters' came into the roona; the 
sounds were heard, and through the medium of the alphabet, they, and about half the com- 
pany, were directed to retire to another apartment. Our company in the absence of the 
'three sisters,' whose presence is generally deemed essential to these spiritual communica- 
tions, were all seated closely around an ordinary dining table, when one of the ladies, bowing 
her head, inquired in rather a solemn tone, 'Will the spirit answer questions now?' No 
response being made, I felt the disappointment of the lady, and was half inclined to smile 
at the ludicrous scene, Vvdien the searching glance of her suspicious eye, falling upon me, 
bade me maintain my usual gravity and respect to^vard the company and the occasion which 
had called us there. After several ineffectual attempts to get responses, the soxmds were 

4 



50 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

heard, and the company generally were privileged •with answers to their respective interroga- 
tories. I availed myself of the opportmiity, but gained no other satisfaction than a prompt 
assurance that all my 'test questions' sliould be answered when I should come there again. 
I went away sceptical, though unable to account for the 'sounds' which caused tlie floor 
occasionally to vibrate under my feet. 

"On my next visit I was much more successful. During the interval, I had prepared my 
mind with certain questions touching events unknown to the family, and of a remote date. 
The sounds told me my age precisely, though my appearance is such as to indicate a 
difference of eight or ten years. The names of six of my nearest deceased relatives were 
given me. I then inquired, ' Will the spirit who now makes these sounds give me its 
name?' Five sounds directed me to the alphabet, which I repeated until the name of 
'Charles' appeared, which answered to an infant child whom we consigned to the grave 
in March, 1S43. '^'o ^7 inquiries, it gave me a true answer in regard to the time it had 
been in the spirit land, and also the period since my eldest sister's death, which was nearly 
eighteen years ; the latter fact not being recollected then, I found true by dates on my 
return home. Many other test questions were correctly answered; and yet, notwitlistand- 
ing the origin of these sounds seemed inexplicable, I was inclined to impute them to 
mesmerism or clairvoyance. However, as the spirit promised to satisfy me by other 
demonstrations when I came again, I patiently awaited the opportunity. 

" On the third visit I was selected from half a dozen gentlemen, and directed by these 
sounds to retire to another apartment, in company with the 'three sisters' and their aged 
mother. It was about eight o'clock in the evening. A lighted candle was placed on a 
large table, and we seated ourselves around it. I occupied one side of the table, the 
mother and youngest daughter the right, and two of the sisters the left, leaving the oppo- 
site side of the table vacant. On taking our positions the sounds were heard, and con- 
tinued to multiply and become more violent until every part of the room trembled with 
their demonstrations. They were unlike any I had heard before. Suddenl)', as we were 
all resting on the table, I felt the side next to me to move upward. I pressed upon it 
heavily, but soon it passed out of the reach of us all — full six feet from me, and at least 
four from the nearest person to it. I saw distinctly its position — not a thread could have 
connected it with any of the company without my notice, for I had come to detect imposi- 
tion, if it could be found. In this position we were situated when the question was 
asked, 'Will the spirit move the table back where it was before?' And back it came, 
as though it were carried on the head of some one who had not suited his position to 
a perfect equipoise, the balance being sometimes in favor of one side, and then the other. 
But it regained its first position. In the meantime the 'demonstrations' grew louder 
and louder. The family commenced, and sung the 'spirit's' song,* and several other 
pieces of sacred music, during which accurate time was marked on the table, causing it to 
vibrate. A transparent hand, resembling a shadow, presented itself before my face. I felt 
fingers taking hold of a lock of hair on the left side of my head, causing an inclination of 
several inches; then a cold hand was drawn over my face; three gentle raps on my left 
knee ; my right limb forcibly pulled, against strong resistance, under the table ; a violent 
shaking, as though two hands were applied to my shoulders ; myself and chair uplifted and 
moved back a few inches, and several slaps, as with a hand, on the side of my head, which 
wei-e repeated on each one of the company, more rajDidly than I coidd count. During 
these manifestations, a piece of pasteboard, nearly a foot square, was swung v/ith such 
velocity before us as to throw a strong current of air in our faces ; a paper curtain at- 
tached to one of the M-dndows was rolled up and unrolled twice ; a lounge immediately 
behind me was shaken violently ; two small drawers in a bureau played back and forth 
with inconceivable rapidity; a sound resembling a man sawing boards, and planing them, 
was heard under the table ; a common spinning-wheel seemed to be in motion, malang a 
very natural buzz of the spindle; a reel articulated each knot wound upon it, while the 
sound of a rocking cradle indicated maternal care for the infant's slumbers. These were 
among many other demonstrations which I witnessed that evening, amid which I felt a 
perfect self-possession, and in no instance the slightest embarrassment, except a momen- 
tary chill when the cold hand was applied to my face, similar to a sensation I have realized 
when touching a dead body. That any of the company could have performed these things, 
under the circumstances in which we were situated, would require a greater stretch of 
credulity on my part than it would to believe it was the work of spudts. It could not, 

* "The Spirit's Song." At one of these circles the spirits rapped out bj' the alphabet a simple melody', 
which being given by letters to Mrs. Fish with instiiictions how to divide it into bars and rhythm, that lady 
being a musician, readily arranged the given letters into the air. The spirits then requested the circle to sing 
to those notes the words of Mrs. Heman's charming poem, "The Haunted Spring; " requiring the singers, 
however, to substitute the word sacred for haunted. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 51 

by any possibility, have been done by them, nor even attempted, without detection. And 
I may add, that near the close of the demonstrations at this visit, there was a vibration of 
the floor, as tliougli several tons in weight had been uplifted and suddenly fallen again upon 
it This caused everything in the room to shake most violently for several minutes, when 
the force was withdrawn. 

"I have also tested the intelligence of these spirits in every way my ingenuity could invent. 
On one occasion, I wrote a word on a slip of paper privately, placed it in my wallet, went 
there — and the sounds, through the alphabet, spelled that word correctly as I had written 
it. That word was 'Sibyl.' 

"On the 20th of February, the two youngest sisters made my family a visit. Here the 
sounds were heard; questions involving subjects wholly unknown to them, were answered; 
a large, heavy dining-table was moved several times ; and on expressing thanks at the table 
to the Giver of all Good, some six or eight sounds responded to every sentence I uttered, 
by making loud and distinct sounds in various parts of the room. 

"Yours, truly, 

"C. Hammond. 

"Rochester, Febncary 22, 1850." 

A great variety of other manifestations began to appear in families residing 
in and about Rochester, besides the rappings. Vokimes might be written on 
the extraordinary intehigence manifested by spirits in various ways, especially 
through clairvoyance, premonition, and mental telegraphy. A short but 
rather striking instance of the latter kind is inserted here, occurring in the 
family of the Rev. A. H. Jervis, a Methodist minister of Rochester, Avho was 
warmly interested in the Fox family, and who had the advantage of the same 
kind of medium power as theirs, produced in members of his ow'n household. 
It will sufiice to illustrate multitudes of similar cases that were now transpiring 
hourly. Writing to E. W. Capron, Mr. Jervis says : 

"There are many facts that have come under my obsei-vation equally convincing of the 
intelligence and utility of the communications from these unseen agents, who I believe are 
now continually about us, and more perfectly acquainted with all our ways and even our 
thoughts than we are with each other. But the fact in reference to our friend Pickard 
is what you require. He was at my house on Friday, April 6, 1849. None of the Fox 
family were present. While at the tea-table we had free communication on different 
subjects. Mr. Pickard was requested to ask questions. He desired to know who it was 
that would communicate, and was answered, 'I am your mother, Mary Pickard.' Pier 
name, or the fact of her death, was not kno-\\Ti to any of us. The next Monday evening 
Mr. Pickard was at Mr. G — 's, and tarried there over night. He then received a commu- 
nication purporting to be from his mother, saying, 'Your child is dead.' He came im- 
mediately to my place, and said he should take the stage for home [Lockport, sixty miles 
distant]; accordingly [and wholly on the faith of the spirit's communication, remember], 
he left in the stage at eight a. m. At twelve that same day I returned to my home, my 
wife meeting me with a telegi^aph envelope, which I first read mentally, and then breaking 
the seal, read out as follows : 

" 'Rochester, April 10, 1849. 
" ^By Telegraph from Lockport ^ to Rev. A. H. Jervis, No. 4 West Street: 

" ' Tell Mr. Pickard, if you can find him, his child died this morning. Answer. 

R. Mallory.' 

• • "I then added to my wife, 'God's telegraph has outdone Morse's altogether.' 

"Yours, truly, 
"To E. W. Capron, Auburn. A. H. Jervis." 

Several attempts were made by the spirits to reduce the communications 
to something like an orderly system of spiritual telegraphy. One of the 
most frequent names spelled out in the Rochester manifestations was that of 
"Benjamin Franklin," Avho claimed to be actively interested in promoting 
them; a claim not at all at variance with the pursuits of this renowned 



52 HISTORY OF MODERN 

philosopher whilst an inhabitant of earth. Had the instructions of this v.ise 
and beneficent spirit been strictly followed out, there might possibly have 
long since resulted that order which was sadly lacking in the chaos of the 
earlier manifestations; but in the meetings which now began to take place in 
hundreds of families, the ignorance and superstition which had formerly 
prevailed on all subjects connected with the life beyond the grave, either 
continued to characterize the communications or became apparent in an 
excess of fanatical credulity. 

The seances of the Misses Fox were constantly broken up by inharmony, 
rudeness, and determined opposition, on the part of some of the visitors. 
The company were driven from room to room by incessant intrusions ; and 
the nervously excited state of the poor mediums' minds, together with their 
entire ignorance of the necessary conditions for scientific communion, ren- 
dered orderly experiments almost impossible. In some of the circles where 
entranced clairvoyant or impressional media presided, the wildest scenes of 
confusion would often prevail. Two or three of " the prophets " would be 
jabbering in unknown tongues at once, whilst others would be shouting the 
war-whoop of the red Indian. "Apostolic" letters, in miserable grammar 
and worse spelUng, were palmed off as genuine productions from the seventh 
sphere; and all the crudities of impressible minds, stimulated half to frenzy 
by the contagious excitement of the times, were set down as direct commu- 
nications from exalted ancients whose authoritative teachings no doubt 
emanated from the fantastic imaginings of self-psychologized persons. It 
would indeed have required a more re-creative pov/er than any that Divine 
wisdom has yet intrusted to spirits or mortals to fashion these elements into 
order, or to bring forth the wise dicta of science from such disturbed magnetic 
conditions. A few phenomenal evidences were from time to time developed 
out of the chaos, proving the power possessed by spirits to achieve mar- 
vellous results in mental science, could favorable conditions be afforded. 
One of these experiments has been so amply recorded by Mr. N. Draj^er, of 
Rochester, a very worthy gentleman and the husband of a most excellent 
magnetic clairvoyant, that we subjoin his statement in full: 

" Zi7 Messrs. yervis, Willetts, Jones, and others : 

"Gentlemen, — As we ai-e required by authority, that we think we have no right to 
disregard, to make public the extraordinary communications witnessed at my dwelling, 
it becomes necessary to give you, and through you the public, the facts which gave rise 
to the first interview, on Friday, the i6th inst. The novelty of the subject and the state 
of the public mind are such that I feel prompted to do this, not only correctly but as 
minutely as possible. Circumstances had placed me in a way to witness those remarkable 
communications called the 'mysterious rappings,' from the time of their origin in this city 
in the summer of 184S. After the severest tests, under a variety of circumstances and 
at various places, for about one year, ■ incontestible evidence addressed to my senses 
baffled my scepticism, and fully convinced me that they were the production of no lunnan 
agencies. And as they profess to emanate from invisible intelligences, called spirits, I 
had not allowed myself the liberty to attribute them to any other source, at least until some 
other origin could be detected. In hope of eliciting some further light on the mysterious 
subject, I proposed to a member of my family, who is susceptible to magnetic influence, 
to be put into a clairvoyant state, and see what might be presented in relation to it. She 
complied, and for this purpose was magnetized on the evening of the 12th inst. 

" The questions and answers were as follows: 

" Q. Do you see anything? A. I see a siranger who I never before saw. He is not pre- 
possessing in appearance, but is very elevated in his position, and is busily employed. 
Q. What is he doing? A. He is preparing work for you. Q. What is the nature of the 
work? A. He is establishing a line of communication. Q. Ask him 'Is it practicable to 
the communications between two distant points by means of these rappings ? ' A. ^ To be 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. SZ 

sure,' he says. Q. Can you ascertain v/lao this stjranger is? A. Benjamin [and after a 
pause] Franklin. Q. Will you ask him to give you some signal by which we may know 
it is really Benjamin Franklin? After a silence of one or two minutes, a violent shock 
of her parson induced me hastily to say, ' What is the matter ; are you waking up ? A. No ; 
you wanted a signal and I told him if it was Dr. Franklin he might electrize me, and he 
did it. Q. Has it injured you? A. No; I feel better; my head is clearer; I can see 
plainer. Q. Will you ask him where communications between distant points at the same 
time can be tested. A. He says at your own house. Q. Is there anything required of us 
in the matter ? A. He says, get two of these young ladies about whom there is so much 
excitement in your city, place them in extreme parts of two rooms, and you [ meaning 
herself] be put in the same state in which you now are, and I will communicate v/ith 
you. Q. Who else maybe in attendance? A. Mr. Jervis and a few others who have 
been acquainted with the subject. Q. Will he direct as to time ? A. He says consult the 
convenience of those concerned, and I shall be advised of it. Q. Are there any fm-ther 
directions to be given at this time ? A. That is the end of the chapter. 

"In compliance with the above, the interview on Friday, the i6th, was called, you and 
others notiiled, and the attendance of the two young ladies, Margaretta and Catharine 
Fox, secured ; from whom, for prudential reasons, the above facts and preliminaries were 
withheld, 

" Respectfully yours, N. Draper." 

*' To the Editor of the Daily Magnet: — 

" Pursuant to the notice as above stated, we, the undersigned, met at the house of Mr. 
Draper on Friday, the 15th inst., about four o'clock P. M. We inquired for directions, 
and were answered by alphabet, 'Let Mrs. Draper be magnetized.' Through her the 
two young ladies were directed to retire to another room. The directions then were for 
Mr. Jervis, Mrs. Fox, and Catharine Fox, to be placed in a room at the opposite end of 
the house, and for Mr. Jervis to take notes. Margaretta Fox should be with the company 
in the parlor, and Mr. Draper take notes. This was done. The sounds were then heard 
in botla rooms by either company, exactly similar to the sound heard in the telegi-aph 
office. 

" Question to the Clair oyant — What does that rapping mean, imlike any other sounds 
before heard by rapping? Ansiver — He is trying the batteries." The signal for the alpha- 
bet was heard, and on calling the letters it was spoiled, ' She must be waked in ten minutes.' 
A watch was placed on the table, after noting the time, and covered up, and the question 
asked, if we could have a signal by sounds at the exact time, and was answered affirma- 
tively. At the precise time the signal was heard. The question was then asked, ' Who 
shall v/ake her ? ' and she was instantly awalcened with an apparent electric shock. 

"At this point there was much interruption, by persons coming into both rooms. The 
question was asked for further directions, and the answer was by alphabet, ' Things are not as 
I directed ; therefore, you cannot proceed at this time. There should be but four in each 
room.' Mr. Jervis and company came into the parlor, and his notes read as follov,-s : 
' Things are not as I directed them ; therefore, you cannot proceed at this time.' Q. Can we 
have another opportunity? A. If I set the time and name the company there shall be no 
fail. Q. Shall the appointment be now made ? Answered affirmatively. The following 
persons were then named by the alphabet : JNIr. Jervis, Mr. Jones, Mr. Draper, Mr. Wil- 
letts, Mrs. Jervis, Mrs. Draper, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Fox, Margaretta Fox, and Catharine Fox. 
Q. May we know the time? A. Wednesday next, at four o'clock P. m. Q. The place? 
A, Here. On the day appointed, February 20th, the above-named persons convened; 
some of the company were late, and as soon as order was observed, the question was asked 
•What are the directions of Benjamin Franklin? A. Hurry, first magnetize Mrs. Dra- 
per.' This was done, she immediately saying : 'He says vv^e are behind the time, but he 
will forgive us this time; we must do better in future.' The company was divided as 
follows: Mr. Jervis, Mr. Jones, Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Brown, Catharine Fox, in a retired room, 
with two doors closed between them. Mrs. Draper, Mrs. Jervis, Mr. Draper, Mr. Wil- 
letts, and Margaretta Fox remained in the parlor. Sounds unusually loud were heard in 
each room by either company, as before, resembling the telegraphic sounds. They were so 
unusual that Miss Fox became alarmed and said, 'What does all this mean?' Mrs. 
Draper, while her countenance was irradiated with animation, replied, ' He is trying the 
batteries.' Soon there was the signal for the alphabet, and the following commimication 
was spelled to the company in the parlor : ' INow I am ready, my friends. Tliere will be 
great changes in the nineteenth century. Things that now look dark and mysterious to 



54 HISTOR V OF MODERN 

you will be laid plain before your sight. Mysteries are going to be revealed. The world 
will be enlightened. I sign my name, Benjamin Franklin. Do not go into the othef 
room. ' 

" After waiting a few minutes, Mr. Jervis came into the parlor, saying that he was 
directed by the sounds to come and compare notes. They read as follows : Q. Are we all 
right? Answered affirmatively; signal for alphabet, and the following was spelled: 
' There will be great changes in the nineteenth century. Things that now look dark and mys- 
terious to you will be laid plain before your sight. Mysteries are going to be revealed. 
The world will be enlightened. I cign my name, Benjamin Franklin. Go in the parlor 
and compare notes.'. Sir. Jervis returned to his company, and by alphabet was spelled: 
' Now all go into the parlor.' The notes were then compared in presence of the whole 
company. Q. Is there anything more from Dr. Franklin? A. I think I have given tests 
enough for this day. Q. Will it not be better to keep this matter private ? ^. No ; it 
should be published. Q. In what paper ? A. In Democrat or Magnet. Q. Who sliall 
prepare it for publication ? A. George Willetts.' Time and place were then designated 
for the same coiiipany to meet again, with two other persons added to the number. 

" We sign our names as no parties, but as witnesses. If our testimony is incredible, 
impeach and reject it; if admissible, hand it over to the judge and jurors — the public — 
and charge them that we claim no interest aside from their own in their verdict. 

"Rev. a. H. Jervis, Nathaniel Draper, 

Edward Jones, George Willetts, 

Rachael Draper, Mary Jervis, 

Mary Brown, Margaret Fox. 

"Rochester, February 23, 1850." 

And here for the present we must close our account of douigs of the spirits 
in Rochester, and that rather from the pressure of other subjects than the 
lack of material, as the records of that city alane would amply suffice to fill 
up many volumes in connection with the early history of Spiritualism in 
America. 

Many highly interesting narratives are necessarily omitted, and above two 
hundred letters, printed and in MSS., in the author's possession, containing 
graphic accounts of first interviews with the spirits and subsequent con- 
viction of their truth, are withheld for want of space. 

Many gentlemen connected with the press of different cities joined in the 
Rochester investigations, and many reported in favor of the honesty and 
truth of the mediums. 

Frequent acknowledgments were made that the phenomena exhibited 
were marvellous, the intelligence unquestionable, generally correct, and out 
of the sphere of the mediums' knowledge, but admissions made thus far 
generally concluded by declaring that, while acquitting the media of any 
concocted plan in the production of said phenomena, "they were not 
prepared; or could not, would not, must not believe, etc., that it was the 
work of spirits." There were many others connected with the press, espe- 
cially the religious papers, who first refused scornfully to investigate "the 
thing," and after pluming themselves on their virtuous ignorance, proceeded 
in unmeasured terms to revile it, heap scandal and denunciation on the 
heads of all connected with' it, and fill their columns Avith unreasoning abuse 
of that which they " knew nothing at all about." 

Whole columns of the daily journals were filled with trash of this char- 
acter, which though temporarily injurious to the feelings of those concerned, 
served the purpose of giving the manifestations precisely that publicity 
which the spirits demanded, and for which, as it would seem, a great majority 
of the press actually became "mediums." And thus the fiery cross, carried 
by the hands of unseen messengers, sped from point to point ; the beacon 
fires lighted by invisible hands gleamed on every mountain-top, and the low 
muffled sound of the spirit-raps that first broke the slumbers of the peaceful 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 5 "5 

inhabitants of the humble tenement at Hydesville, became the clarion peal 
that sounded out to the millions of the western hemisphere, the anthem of the 
soul's immortality, chorused by hosts of God's bright ministering angels. 



CHAPTER V. 

SPIRITUALISM IN AUBURN, NEW YORK. 

"The argument that nothing ever came 

From spirits or the spiritual world 

Is very ancient. The philosopher 

Said to the seer, 'AH that you see I know.' 

The seer in his deep wisdom made reply, 

'All that you know I see.'" 

T. L. Harris. 

Progress of Spiritualism from 1849 to 1855 — Catharine Fox at Auburn 
— Mrs. Tamlin and Mrs. Benedict — Spirit Music — The Opposition — 
Troubles Within the Camp — The Apostolic Circle. 

It was in November, 1849, that the scenes were enacted in Corinthian 
Hall, Rochester, described in the last chapter. 

The immense geographical areas embraced in the thirty-six States of the 
Union, and the fact that no regular system of human propagandism issuing 
from a central source and ramifying through the country, or, indeed, anything 
analagous to such a procedure, has ever been attempted, to account for the 
spread of Spiritualism, embarrasses the historian in describing its progress. 
"Progress," in fact, it can scarcely be called; for, if modern Spiritualism had 
been promulgated as well as inaugurated by the Rochester mediums, its 
course might have been traced in their footprints ; but whilst we are con- 
sidering the effects upon some town or State which the visits of the Misses 
Fox produced, behold we find a great spiritual outpouring in sections of 
country vv"here the echoes of the Rochester vibrations could never even have 
reached. 

Spiritualism did not radiate from a definite centre, but sprang with a spon- 
taneous and irresistible life of its own, independent of human propagandism, 
the contagious force of public sentiment, or the psychological eftect of com- 
mon report. If the ends of the countless threads that with sudden and 
magical rapidity appeared to be inclosing the whole continent of America. 
in one vast woof of spirit-power, were not spun, held, and intelligently directed 
by the unseen people of the spirit country, then all theories of causa- 
tion must fail, and the marvellous groAvth and blossoming of Spiritualism, 
the germs of which no visible hands had planted, will forever remain one of 
the unfinished problems of the universe. Apart from the obviously supra- 
mundane character of its production in various sections of country at once, 
it is not difficult to trace the secondary causes of its rapid growth in the all- 
absorbing nature of its revealments and the passionate emotions of love and 
hatred which it excited in its friends and foes. In fact it would be difficult 
to determine which was the most effective form of propaganda for the spread 
of the belief, namely, the zealous enthusiasm of its admirers or the bitter 
persecution of its antagonists. 



56 HISTORY OF MODERN 

To do iustice to the uprising of this mighty power, we must consider its 
manifestations in different States about the same period of time. Tlie first 
point which Ave shall notice is the State of New York, in which the com- 
munion between mortals and spirits first took the form of a scientific tele- 
graphy. 

In the city of Auburn, New York State, resided Mr. E. W. Capron, to 
whom allusion has already been made in connection with the earliest mani- 
festations and the Corinthian Hall investigation. To strengthen the convic- 
tions of a spiritual source for the phenomena, an opinion v/hich had irresistibly 
forced itself upon his reason, Mr. Capron induced Mrs. Fox to permit her 
youngest daughter, Catharine, to spend some time in his family. During the 
seances conducted through the mediumship of this young lady, inany of the 
principal inhabitants of Auburn had the opportunity of v/itnessing the most 
astounding phenomena under circumstances which precluded even the sus- 
picion of deception. Spirit music was produced ; hands were seen, felt, and 
even examined, forming and melting apparently in the clasp that held them ; 
messages of affection, timely warning, and prescient intelligence were con- 
stantly spelled out through the raps ; the furniture moved in supra-mundane 
feats of power, and almost every conceivable phase of intelligent spiritual 
phenomena was exhibited to all who chose to come and witness it. Two 
remarkable results followed the first introduction of "the power" into 
Auburn. The first was the fact that though the press were permitted free 
access to the circles, and the most abundant opportunity for investigation, yet 
the strength of the occult force, whose evidences they beheld, only seemed to 
arouse in the most of their number a vindictive and unreasoning spirit of an- 
tagonism, which broke forth in unqualified and often senseless slander. 

For example : The Auburn Daily Advertiser coolly stated that old Mr, 
Fox [a quiet, inoffensive farmer, chiefly remarkable for simple-minded devo- 
tion to the Wesleyan Church and his retired, peaceful habits] had by a cunning 
contrivance of springs and wires managed to produce all the marvels witnessed 
at Hydesville ! The fact that every plank, board, and brick, or inch of 
matter connected with the possessed house had been ransacked in vain by 
hundreds of persons in the attempt to detect any trickery, all went for noth- 
ing with this shrewd editor. The still more awkward fact that the i^henomena 
had continued to increase in strength and variety for upwards of a twelve- 
month, moving about from place t'o place, house to house, person to person, 
involving the action of above a hundred different mediums ; and that the poor 
old gentleman accused of its production had never, except in the first two or 
three months of the Hydesville excitement, been in the spirit circles or in 
any way connected with the movement — all this was with equal sense and 
candor utterly disregarded, and good Mr. Fox's " springs and v/ires," invisibly 
fixed into nothing, still continued to stretch from the cottage at Hydesville 
and to rap over hundreds of miles, sounding down to the valley of the Missis- 
sippi, along the vast seaboard of the New England States, and up to the 
northern regions of Lake Superior! Wonderful invention of a quiet little 
New York farmer ! and marvellous springs and wires, the intelligent action 
of which could reveal past, present, and future with an accuracy that would 
have put to shame Egyptian magic or Chaldean astrology ! We must here 
remark that if from time to time we insert the puerilities and baseless slanders 
which have been levelled against " the cause " and its adherents, it is not for 
their worth or efilicacy, but rather to show the utter futility and even despera- 
tion of that opposition which has been forced to create such childish fictions 
in order to discredit the spiritual hypothesis. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 57 

The second result of Miss Kate Fox's visit to Auburn seemed to be the 
unfoldment of medium powers not less remarkable than her own in many 
persons who attended her seances. The most prominent cases of this kind 
occurred in the persons of Mrs. Tamlin and Mrs. Benedict, mediums whose 
names have since become an integral part of the great American spiritual 
record. Several other ladies were also developed in the Auburn circles as 
mediums and clairvoyants. A great variety of gifts in the direction of 
physical, writing, healing, seeing, and trance mediumship also became rapidly 
manifest in various families of the highest respectability, and the great majority 
of these developments took place irrespective of Miss Fox's presence, although 
her visit first called the attention of the community to the subject, and induced 
the formation of the circles in which these powers in the various media be- 
came externalized. In Mr. Capron's work on the early Spiritualism of 
America are recorded some very interesting accounts of the manifestations at 
Auburn ; amongst others, the following incidents, which were also verified to 
the author by Mr. Henry C. Wright, an eye-witness of the scenes. Mr. 
C apron writes : 

" Mrs. Tamlin was, so far as I have been able to learn, the first medium through whom 
the guitar or other musical instruments were played, without visible contact, so as to recog- 
nize tunes. In her presence it was played with all the exactness of an experienced musician, 
although she is not acquainted with music, or herself able to play on any instrument. The 
tones varied from loud and vigorous to the most refined touches of the strings that could be 
imagined." 

At a circle held at Mrs. Tamlin' s, when about seven or eight persons were 
present, whose testimony was afterwards publicly tendered for the truth of 
what follows, Mr. Capron goes on to say : 

"I had magnetized the medium, and, after various manifestations of the spirits, she said 
that they were about to do something new which she could not understand. After sitting 
a few minutes, we heard a low sound like a distant locomotive whistle. Soon, however, 
the sound grew louder, and softened into the most exquisite music. One of the company 
was requested to sing and she did so ; the most beautiful music accompanied. It was like 
the notes of an exquisite ^olian harp, but any attempt to describe its beauty would fail. 

We frequently had the same kind of music in the presence of Mrs. 

Tamlin At times it would resemble the finest conceivable tones of the 

human voice, and almost seem to be dissolved into words. 

"Another phase of this musical manifestation was the imitation of 'Fabyan's' horn. 
This was first produced when Henry C. Wright was present. He called for the spirit of 
N. P. Rogers and asked him to sound the horn, when immediately a sound came like the 
sounding of a horn and its reverberation among distaiit hills, echoing and re-echoing for a 
long time. Mi". Wright had visited the White Mountains in company with N. P. Rogers 
some years before, and there had heard Fabyan, the hotel-keeper, wind his horn among the 
hills, and it was this sound that was so exactly imitated. Mr. Wright afterwards published 
a description of this scene in a pamphlet." 

So long as the manifestations continued to be of the character above nar- 
rated, their appearance in Auburn was hailed with delight by bereaved 
mourners, to whom conclusive evidences of the presence and watchful 
guardianship of beloved spirit friends was clearly proven. 

It excijed the interest of the scientific from the fact that wonderful phe- 
nomena of a novel and interesting character were produced. It startled the 
learned by the exhibition of ignorant adults and uninstructed children speak- 
ing in foreign languages, and often v/ith marvellous eloquence. Clairvoy- 
ance, psychometry, and healing by the laying on of hands or spiritual pre- 
scriptions, testified to the beneficent character of the intelligence and the 
vast range of uses which it included. 



58 HISTORY OF MODERISr 

But the profound ignorance of all psychological phenomena in v/hich this 
material age has been steeped, soon operated to mar and deform the infant 
movement. 

The world had to learn that the spirit country is peopled from earth, and 
that spirit-life commences from the point where mortal existence ends. Un- 
conscious of this solemn truth, the early communicants with the unseen 
world were unprepared for the visitation of the da7'k spirits whom the sad 
experiences of earth had manufactured into criminals. UnaAvare that life, 
whether here or hereafter, is progress, not violent and unnatural change, 
investigators were appalled at the representations, produced through inedia, of 
the same vicious tendencies in spirits which they had beheld with indifference 
from the same spirits whilst inhabitants of earth ; in a word, they did not 
realize the fact that spirits were still human, and that the soul in many respects 
remained unchanged by the mere act of physical dissolution. In this state 
of perplexity and ignorance the return of earth's criminals was generally met, 
either by the superstitious and unavailing exercises of old Catholic rites, or 
submitted to blindly in the idea that all spirits must necessarily be author- 
itative, until the unwary medium became the subject of the distressing con- 
dition now known as " obsession." Still, though the first circles were con- 
ducted in a condition of mental blindness scandalous to the religious teachers 
who should long since have instructed mankind concerning "spiritual gifts" 
and spiritual existences, in course of time the investigators learned experi- 
mentally to realize the true character of the spirit-world, and that more con- 
clusively by their failures than they could have done by contemplating the 
sunlit side of the picture only. But whilst the philosophical Spiritualist be- 
gan to realize the true conditions of immortality from communion with the 
beings who were living in its experience, the egotist and fanatic appropriated 
as their share of the great spiritual outpouring, precisely those elements Avhich 
were best calculated to stimulate their vanity and pander to their supersti- 
tious imaginings. Amongst the Auburn Spiritualists were to be found several 
extremely ignorant but strongly bigoted persons of the Second Advent per- 
suasion. The phenomena of modern Spiritualism, interpreted through their 
own narrow credal views, appeared to them- to be the actual inauguration of 
the long-promised "millennium," whilst they^ — the "true believers" — must 
of course be the chosen ones through whom the millennial dynasty was to be 
established on earth. 

Quite early in the movement a circle had been formed, which at first had 
received the modest title of " The Auburn Circle ; " but no sooner did the 
"chosen few" of the millennial belief gain a foothold in this happy gathering 
than they bent themselves to the work of converting it to their OAvn purposes 
and using the manifestations as an endorsement of their peculiar opinions ; 
in fact, as an eye-witness of the scenes here enacted described to the author, 
"in return for their conversion to Spiritualism they strove to convert the 
spirits to Second Adventism." 

In pursuance of this notable idea they secured the services of Mrs. Bene- 
dict, an impressible rapping medium, through whom the influences mortal 
and immortal that operated in this circle, dictated plans of action designed 
to make " the universe rock," and that portion of it which they mod- 
estly called this little planet, a convert to their faith and a subject to 
the spiritual authority of John the Divine, Daniel the Prophet, Paul the 
Apostle, and other Biblical worthies whom they assumed to have become 
temporarily reincarnated in their medium ship. The title of the circle was 
changed from the "Auburn" to the "Apostohc Ciixle;" Mrs. Benedict, the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 59 

medium, Avas dispatched to New York, where, under spij-it direction, she 
summoned a certain Baptist preacher, named James D. Scott, to come to 
Auburn to minister in the work. A series of papers were published purport- 
ing to emanate from various distinguished personages of Jewish origin and 
of the Apostohc age. Some of these publications were well calculated to 
produce the results which their authors predicted for them, namely, a revolu- 
tion, though not exactly in the universe, or even in the "little planet" earth, 
but simply in the fortunes of the luckless publishers, who found the issue of 
the. said pamphlets exciting a veiy revolutionary effect upon their worldly 
prosperity. To the disbelievers in the Divine origin of these papers they 
certainly created no little feeling of indignation at the audacit}^ which could 
append the names of prophets and apostles to their absurd puerilities, whilst 
even the most credulous of the well-educated Spirituahsts had cause to 
mourn over the deterioration in grammar and orthography wliich befalls , the 
exalted dead by a long residence in the spirit-world. 

About the commencement of the year 1850 the "Apostolic Brotherhood" 
assumed a more respectable literary shape under the authority of the Rev. 
James Scott, and actually rose into eminence by the accession to their ranks 
of the renowned poet, preacher, and medium, the Rev. Thomas L. Harris, 
who was also spiritually called to " the work." With the leadership of these 
accomplished gentlemen, — who claimed to act under the highest spiritual 
guidance, — the movement gained in numbers and in importance until it 
seemed to absorb and control nearly all the Spiritualism in Auburn, reflect 
itself through the chief of the communications, crystallize into a numerously 
attended religious meeting, and finally to culminate in the famous " JNIountain 
Cove movement," of which a detailed description will be given in a later 
chapter. And here it may be asked whether these shadows, cast by human 
pride, presumption, and fanaticism, did not irrevocably quench the dawning 
light of the still embryotic spiritual movement ? We answer, most unques- 
tionably not; although many were the confident predictions of such a result; 
indeed certain jounialistic magnates who had hitherto been indefatigable in 
castigating the cause through their columns, now abandoned their efforts with 
the complaisant remark that "the Spiritualists themslves were performing the 
work of self-destruction, audit was only necessary to give them rope enough and 
they would inevitably hang themselves." In view of what has been already 
narrated, there is no doubt but that this enlightened policy would have had the 
desired effect had it so happened that all the Spiritualists of Auburn were 
included by the followers of Pope Han'is and Cardiiial Scott ; but besides a 
very considerable number outside of their ranks, even some of those who 
had been subject to their authority gained by their experience some veiy 
wise and useful lessons, and not a few of these deluded ones, instead of rush- 
ing to the destruction so liberally predicated for them, exchanged their lead- 
ership for Pope Judgme7it and Cardinal Reason, dignitaries who were hence- 
forth enshrined in plenary authority over the spiritualistic circles at Auburn. 
Amongst the lessons that these rulers taught was the very important one 
that no spirit, mortal or immortal, should stand between the creature and the 
Creator; that it was necessary to try the spirits <?///^///^y(?r7/z by precisely" 
the same rules of good and use as those which applied to spirits in the form, 
and finally that the spirit-world was of no more authority as spirits unbodied 
than the earth-world as spirits still embodied. These lessons the recipients 
deemed cheaply learned, even though the price paid for them was the ridicule 
of a community profoundly ignorant of the subject they ridiculed. 

As to tlie "faithful" amongst the "Apostolic Brotherhood," they soon 



6o HISTORY OF MODERN 

disposed of the question, as far as the people of Auburn were concerned, by 
quitting that "reprobate community" for the holy retreat of "Mountain 
Cove" under the leadership of their inspired shepherds. After this instmc- 
tive episode Spiritualism in Auburn rose, Phoenix-like, resurrected from the 
ashes of fanaticism into purified life, strength, and increasing numbers. 
Mediums began to multiply, the gifts of the spirit became constantly more 
abundant, and the ranks of Spiritualism were swelled with daily added con- 
verts. 

Sunday meetings were in due time established, and a well written weekly 
paper entitled The Spiritual Clarion, together with an annual statistical 
register, was issued from the office of the Rev. Uriah Clark, an ex-Universal- 
ist minister, who established the above-named periodicals in Auburn, from 
whence they long continued to go forth as welcome evangels of the spiritual 
Gospel to the world. The city now numbers thousands of Spiritualists ; nor, 
with all the "rope" that Christian ministers and learned editors so generously 
allowed them, have they yet "hanged themselves," or permanently hindered 
the progress of their glorious cause. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK FROM 1849 TO 1855, 

" They wrought with sad siHCerity ; 
Themselves from God they could not free; 
They builded wiser than they knew 
The conscious stone to beauty grew." 

Spiritual Spring-time in New York — Rev. S. B. Britain, His Spirituai. 
Birth — The "Univerccelum" — Dr. Hallock and the Prophetic Clairvoy- 
ant—A Literary Circle — James Fenimore Cooper, George Bancroft, N. P. 
Willis, William Cullen Bryant, and other Investigators — The Pr'ess 
Explaining, Ignoring, Abusing, Decrying, Defying, and Mystifying the 
Mystery— Those Rochester KNOciaNGS Again — Grimes, Chauncy, Burr, 
AND Mrs. Culver. 

No year in the first epoch of modern Spiritualism has been more fruitful 
with events of interest than 1850. It was in that year that manifestations 
of the most violent and astounding character appeared in the family of Dr. . 
Eliakim Phelps, D.D., of Stratford, Connecticut. It was then also that rap- 
pings, automatic writing, and other intelligent modes of communing with 
spirits became familiar in Boston through the mediumship of Mrs. Margaret 
Cooper, daughter of the eminent lecturer and writer, LeRoy Sunderland. 

On February i, 1850, a party of ladies and gentlemen, in Philadelphia, 
Penn., formed themselves into an experimental circle, and after a very few 
sittings succeeded in obtaining, through raps, clairvoyance, and other meth- 
ods, satisfactory communion with the spirit-world. Circles were inaugurated 
in the same year in Providence, Rhode Island ; Binghamton, Westfield, 
Albany, Troy, Waterford, and numerous other places in New York State ; 
in Cincinnati, where the test rappings were remarkably powerful and intelligent ; 
in Memphis, Tennessee ; St. Louis, Missouri ; California, Oregon, Texas, 
South America, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, similar manifestations 
appeared, and all before the personal influence of the "original Rochester 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 6 1 

mediums" could give the least color to the supposition, put forth in many 
instances by the press, that these persons were the authors or " teachers " 
of the "awful delusion" that had seized on the dwellers of these wide-spread 
districts of America. 

In New York State it cannot be questioned that the rumor of the 
Rochester investigations, the visits of the mediums to its different towns, 
combined with the powerful effect which the phenomenal career of A. J. 
Davis produced, contributed to fill up the overtlowing measure of spiritual 
life Vv-hich has specially distinguished this State. 

In the cities of Troy and Albany, with the neighboring villages of Waterford 
and Lansingburgh, most excellent mediums were developed, at a very early 
period of the movement, for various phases of " the power." The visits of 
the Misses Fox and the reports from Rochester first called attention to the 
subject, but communion with the spirit-world by no means depended on these 
agencies. For example : In the family of Mr. Anson Attwood, of Troy, a 
gentleman of prominent position and high character, one of his little daughters, 
a child of about ten years of age, became suddenly developed for marvellous 
phases of the strongest physical character, besides rapping, writing, and 
clairvoyance ; and similar manifestations continued to spring up like grass 
beneath the feet in every place and with every variety of development. 

For the present, however, we shall limit our observations to the progress of 
Spiritualism in New York City. 

One of the main features of interest in tracing a movement for which a 
supra-mundane origin is affirmed, must necessarily be derived from the 
proofs that can be oftered in verification of that claim. The history of the 
rise and progress of Spiritualism in New York City forms as valuable an item 
in this class of testimony as can well be selected, for we see the principal 
actors in the great drama being prepared in methods peculiar to themselves 
long before they were called upon to take part in the seances by Avhich they 
have since become publicly identified with Spiritualism. A striking illus- 
tration of this occurs in the person of the Rev. S. B. Britain, a gentleman 
widely known as an author of eminent literary and scientific attainments, 
but more especially distinguished as one who has filled the various positions 
of editor, lecturer, essayist, magnetizer, psychologist, and magnetic physician 
in the spiritual ranks. By his eloquent advocac}^, public discussions, and 
editorial labors, Mr. Britain has rendered services to the cause of Spiritu- 
alism which can never be over-estimated; yet his adherence was not secured 
through phenomenal evidence or any of the ordinary channels of human 
-^^^ropagandism. Whilst officiating as pastor to the First Univeralist Church in 
Albany, New York, and during the progress of a severe fit of sickness, Mr. 
Britain' was throv.ai into a state of profound trance, which for a period of 
twelve days held his consciousness in abeyance, neither did he receive the 
least nourishment for twenty-one days. From this condition, hovering 
- between sleep and death, Mr. Britain returned to life, awakening from the 
trance as mysteriously as he had sunk into it. With the restoration of health 
and consciousness, however, his feelings experienced a complete revulsion, 
which mai-ked him for a changed man. Either a fresh train of thought v/as 
infused into his mind by the still, small voice v/hose utterances can never be 
interpreted into human speech, or the presence of a strange spiritual visitor 
[whom he described as of majesic aspect and benevolent bearing, often stand- 
ing near him during the period of his trance] engraved on his mind a set of 
impressions wholly distinct and at variance from those which his former life's 
images had left. Certain it is that he arose from his couch of sufierinsr like a 



62 . , HISTORY OF MODERN 

soul resurrected from the ashes of a buried past. For a brief period on!}', he 
resumed his ministerial duties ; and though earnestly entreated by his congre- 
gation to remain with them and distribute the living bread of which it was 
evident that he had partaken, he felt a strong mental pressure compelhng him 
to sever his connection with any credal organization where he might be fettered 
in the free range and expression of the newlj^-born thoughts that were ani- 
mating him. It has already been noticed that the appearance of Mr. A. J. 
Davis's extraordinary work, "Nature's Divine Revelations," was followed by 
the publication of the Univerccelum of which the Rev. S. B. Britain Avas 
the editor. Mr. Britain had taken a warm interest in the young " Pough- 
keepsie Seer's" supra-mundane development; and having himself become 
an earnest investigator into magnetism, clairvoyance, and those occult myste- 
ries of Avhich he reasonably judged his own case v/as an evidence, he naturally 
gravitated to the ranks of the philosophic Spiritualists, amongst whom his 
literary attainments and highly-cultured intellect procured him a distinguished 
place. 

Thus it was that he became, by universal consent of his new associates, 
the editor of a paper which was designed to embody the most spiritually 
illuminated thoughts of the age. But Mr. Britain's phenomenal preparation 
for entering the ranks of Spiritualism was by no means an isolated evidence 
of spirit agency. Nearly all the persons connected directy or indirectly 
with Spiritualism have some remarkable experiences to relate — some evidence 
to give that they were each being prepared in their place to become one of 
the highly-wrought and polished stones in the great temjDle of the "Ncav 
Jerusalem" — so that when at last they came together as if by the force of 
mutual and inevitable attraction, they found that they had but been instru- 
ments in the hands of the supreme power, who was fashioning each, through 
their separate experiences, to the work of Divine ministration. 

At the New York Conference, established in 185 1, for the discussion of 
psychological subjects. Dr. Hallock, one of the most able and prominent 
advocates of the truth of Spiritualism, related several experiences he had 
enjoyed with magnetic subjects about the time of the advent of the Rochester 
knockings; amongst these is a case strikingly illustrative of hundreds of 
others that were occurring in various parts of the country. Dr. Hallock, 
being a skilful operator, was asked by a clairvoyant to magnetize her for 
the purpose of examining an article which had just appeared in the New 
York Tribune of December, 1848, on the subject of the "rappings" at 
Hydesville. 

"The clairvoyant passed," says the doctor, "into a kind of religious 
ecstacy, and in a solemn but happy frame of mind, evinced by a great change 
in her manner and appearance, went on to say that the newspaper statement 
of the Rochester phenomena was true. That it Avould not end there, but 
would be repeated in various places in America, Europe, and Asia. That 
its object was to convince the world of the realities of spiritual life and 
communion, and that these manifestations would not cease until the end 
was accomplished. She said it appeared to her as if a man by the name of 
Swedenborg had a great deal to do with it. That the rapping seemed to be 
made by the strong Vv^ill of a man trying to impress himself on others. She de- 
scribed the appearance of Swedenborg while on earth, related anecdotes of 
his life, and added, " Wliy, he was like me ; that is, he could be in one place, 
and tell what was going on in another. " All her statements with regard to 
Sv/edenborg were verified by history, and those concerning the Rochester me- 
diums, besides other collateral circumstances, were found upon inquiry to be 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 65 

Strictly true ; yet this person was very illiterate, and could have had no 
instruction upon the historical and scientific points she discoursed of. 
When questioned in her normal state if she had ever heard of Swedenborg, 
she replied, vrith unmistakable sincerity, "No; does he live in Nev/ York?" 
and thus the effects which magnetism and clairvo)'ance exerted in preparing 
the public mind and mediumistic organizations for the reception of Spiritu- 
alism Avas strikingly illustrated, and the advent of the Rochester knockings 
in New York found the ground ploughed, harrowed, and seed-bearing, long 
before the first visit of the Misses Fox to the city. 

Notices of "the mysterious rappings in Hydesville" had already been 
widely circulated in the papers. Startling accounts of similar manifestations 
had reached the citizens from their friends in difi'erent parts of the States. 
"Rappings," it was said, had "broken out" in several tovrns in the imme- 
diate vicinity of Rochester, but above all, public attention was painfully 
excited by the report of the manifestations occurring at the house of the 
Rev. Dr. Phelps, of Stratford. The unquestionable veracity and high ecclesi- 
astical position of Dr. Phelps, and the frightfully preternatural character of 
the events transpiring in his family, had excited a feeling of curiosity mingled 
with terror which was heightened by the accounts of marvels transpiring in 
other places with which the public were made familiar through the press, 
especially the New- York Tribune, the columns of which, through the influence 
of its progressive editors, were open to a free representation of the subject 
from all quarters, and on both sides of the question. It is from a file of this 
paper for the year 1850 that the author is enabled to present an account of 
a circle which was held through the mediumship of the Fox family soon alter 
their first professional visit to New York City in the spring of 1S50. The 
reader will perceive that the whole recital points to the mere infancy of the 
movement, and does not offer a view of any phenomena even commonly 
interesting or startling; but as presenting a fair specimen of the cautious 
tone of newspaper narratives of that period — however favorable the writer's 
opinions might be on the subject — but still more in view of the interest with 
which we must associate investigations, connected with names so distinguished 
in literature as those which figure in this circle, we deem the verbatim report 
of the Tribune may prove an acceptable record. The paper from which we 
extract this report being torn and the date defective, we are only enabled to 
indicate the time as being about the spring of 1850. The report was drawn 
up by one of the editors, a man of gi'eat learning and intelligence, Mr. 
Ripley. 

"AN EVENING WITH THE 'SPIRITS'— NEW YORK, 1850. 

" We were present on Thursday evening at a party of gentlemen who had been invited 
to the chambers of the Rev. Dr. Griswold, in Broadway, to meet the Rochester ladies, 
whose connection with the mysterious Ivnockings has called forth such general curiosity. 
The party had been arranged by Dr. Griswold, who has been incredulous from the first 
with regard to any preternatural character in the manifestations 

"It consisted of persons whose general character for intelligence and probity was a 
guarantee against their being deluded by hasty impressions, and who probably without ex- 
ception had no prepossession in favor of the principal actors in the movement 

"Among the guests of Dr. Griswold we may without impropriety mention the names 
of Mr. J. Fenimore Cooper, Mr. George Bancroft, Rev. Dr. Hawks, Dr. J. W. Francis, 
Dr. Marcy, Mr. N. P. Willis, WiUiam Cullen Bryant, Mr. Bigelow of the Evening Post, 
ISIr. Richard B. Kimball, I^.Ir. H. T. Tuckerman, and General Lyman 

"The ladies had been previously consulted, and after ascertaining that manifestations 
would take place, consented to meet the party. In order to prevent any suspicion as to the 



64 HISTOR V OF MODERN' 

arrangement of the room, furniture, closets, etc., the rcitnione was appointed at the house 
of Dr. Griswold, which neither of the ladies had ever entered before the party was assem- 
bled. A little past eight o'cloclc they made their appearance — Mrs. Fox, an elderly lady, 
the mother of the 'ghost-seers' [which word we use for want of a better], Mrs. Fish, a 
married daughter, and her two younger sisters 

"For some time, perhaps a little oyer half an hour, after the arrival of the ladies no 
sounds were heard, and the company gave obvious symptoms of impatience. They were 
then requested to draw nearer the table, which was in front of the ladies, and form them- 
selves into a compact circle. Soon after faint sounds began to be heard from under the 
floor, around the table, and in different parts of the room. 

"They increased in loudness and frequency, becoming so clear and distinct that no one 
could deny their presence nor trace them to any visible cause. The question was now asked 
by the 'ghost-seers,' ' Will the spirits converse with any one present ?' 

" After a good deal of coquetting it was said that replies would be given to any questions 
proposed by Dr. Marcy. He inquired whether the spirit which he wished to converse with 
was a relation, was a child, and what was its age at the time of its death, etc. We under- 
stood Dr. Marcy to say that the answers were correct 

"Mr. Henry T. Tuckerman was the next to propound inquiries which, contrary to the 
usual custom, he expressed audibly, so as to be heard by the ladies and the whole company. 
Having fixed in his mind the name of an individual he asked, ' Did he live in New York ? ' 
No answer. 'In Baltimore? In Cambridge.^ In Boston?' Three distinct raps, which 
is the sign of an affirmative answer. A negative reply is indicated by silence. Mr. T. 
continued, ' Was he a lawyer ? A merchant ? A physician ? A clergj-man ? ' Knocks. 
■ ' Was he an Episcopalian ? A Presbyterian ? A Unitarian ? ' going over the names of 
the principal sects. No answer. At the suggestion of a gentleman, Mr. T. asked, ' Was 
he a Christian ? ' Knocks. Mr. T. then asked the age of the person in a series of tens. 
' Was he twenty years old at the time of his death? Was he thirty? Fifty? Sixty?' 
Knocks. ' Has he left a family?' Knocks. 'Children?' Knocks. 'Five? Three? 
Two ? ' Knocks. ' Did he die in Boston ? In Philadelphia ? In Albany ? In North- 
ampton? In Bennington?' Knocks. 'Did he die of consumption? Of fever? Of 
cholera? Of old age ? ' Knocks. 

"The person in Mr. Tuckerman's mind was the late Rev. Dr. Channing, of Boston, who 
died in Bennington, Vermont, while on a journey. The degree of correctness in the 
answers may be judged by the reader. It may be stated, however, that for the last few 
years of his life Dr. C. disclaimed the use of all sectarian names, preferring to be called 
only Christian, and that, though under seventy, his physical powers had long suffered from 
premature exhaustion 

" Rev. Dr. Hawks was then ui'gently requested by several of the party to propose inqui- 
ries, to which, after some hesitation, he reluctantly consented. He did not meet with any 
great success. The sounds uttered were faint 

" After several more ineffectual attempts he resigned the floor to Dr. Francis, Avho was 
welcomed with a general roll of knockings from the mysterious agents, seeming to claim 
the privilege of old and intimate acquaintance. With his proverbial urbanity, seating 
himself as if at the bedside of a patient. Dr. F. asked in terms of the most insinuating 
blandness whether the spirits present would converse with any member of the company. 
Would they vouchsafe to speak to his illustrious friend, the world-renowned author, Mr. 
Cooper ? Would they converse with the great American poet, Mr. Bryant ? To these 
flattering invitations no reply was given. Would they speak to so humble an individual as 
himself? Loud knocks. Di\ F. then asked, fixing on a person, 'Was he an American? 
Was he an Englishman? Was he a Scotchman? ' The knocks were loud and unanimous. 
* Was he a merchant ? Was he a lawyer ? Was he an author ? ' Loicd knocks. ' Was he 
a poet ? ' ' Yes,'' in distinct knocks. ' Will you tell his name? ' Here the spirits called for 
the alphabet, by sounds intelligible to the 'ghost-seers.' The answers by this method are 
given in knocks at the letter desired, when the alphabet is repeated by one of the ladies. 
It then spelled out B-u-r-, when the company indiscreetly, but spontaneoush', interrupted, 
by crying out, ' Robert Burns.' This was the true answer, and after the interview with 
the favorite Scotch poet Dr. F. declined any further communication. 

"Mr. J. Fenimore Cooper was then requested to enter into the supra-mundane sphere, 
and proceeded to interrogate the spirits with the most imperturbable self-possession and 
deliberation. After several desultory questions from which no satisfactory answers wei"e 
obtained, Mr. C. commenced a new series of inquiries. ' Is the person I inquire about a 
relative?' ' Yes,' was at once indicated by the knocks. ' A near relative ? ' 'Yes.' 'A 
man?' No answer. ' A woman ? ' 'Yes.' 'A daughter? A mother? A wife?' No 
answer. 'A sister?' 'Yes.' Mr. C. then asked the number of years since her death. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 65 

To this the ansAver was given in rapid and distinct raps, some counting forty-five, others 
forty-nine, fifty-four, etc. After considerable parleying as to the manner in which the 
question should be answered, the consent of the invisible interlocutor was given to knock 
the years so slowly that they might be distinctly counted. This was done. Knock, knock, 
knock, for over a minute, till the nimiber amounted to fifty, and was unanimously announced 
by the company. Mr. C. now asked, ' Did she die of consumption ? ' naming several dis- 
eases to which no answer was given. 'Did she die by accident?' 'Yes.' 'Was she 
killed by lightning? Was she shot ? Was she lost at sea ? Did she fall from a carriage? 
Was she thro^^-n from a horse?' 'Yes.' Mr. Cooper did not pursue his inquiries any 
further, and stated to the company that the answers were correct, the person alluded to by 
him being a sister who, just fifty years ago the present month, was killed by being thrown 
from a horse. 

"The evening was now far advanced, and it was not thought desirable to continue the 
colloquies any further. At the suggestion of several gentlemen, the ladies removed from 
the sofa, where they had sat during the evening, and remained standing in another part of 
the room, producing a vibration on the panncls which was felt by eveiy one who touched 
them. Different gentlemen stood on the outside and the inside of the door at the same 
time, when loud knockings were heard on the side opposite to tliat where they stood. The 
ladies were at such a distance from the door in both cases as to lend no countenance to the 
idea that the sounds were produced by any direct communication with them. They now 
went into a parlor, under the room in which the party was held, accompanied by several 
gentlemen, and the sounds were then produced with great distinctness, causing sensible 
vibrations in the sofa, and apparently coming from a thick hearth-rug before the fire-place, 
as well as from other quarters of the room. Such are the most important facts which we 
can recall of the manifestations of the evening. We believe we have stated them without 
any coloring whatever, as they appeared to every one present ; but with regard to their 
origin or their nature, we are as much in the dark as any of our readers. The manners and 
bearing of the ladies are such as to create a prepossession in their favor. They have no 
theories to offer in explanation of the acts of their mysterious attendants, and apparently 
have no control of their incomings or outgoings." 

Many of the persons then present for the first time at a spiritual seance 
have since become firm behevers in the tnith of the communion between the 
natural and spiritual worlds, while some have themselves entered into the 
sphere of those sublime verities which they then began to investigate as 
a matter of simple curiosity or pastime. 

Amongst these, it is gratifying to know that the distinguished author and 
poet Fenimore Cooper and N. P. Willis partook of the illuminating influence 
of the bright homes to which they were so soon after summoned, as premoni- 
tory whispers which cheered their earthly way and prepared their pilgrim feet 
for the brighter path they are now treading. In how many thousands of 
ears have these same low telegraphic raps sounded the triumphant words, 
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" on the eve 
of the very hour when some earthly pilgrim was about to take his " leap in 
the dark?" How many a footprint to the tomb has been illumined into the 
highway of eternity by the spirit lights which flashed before the eyes of 
mortals at these same " evenings with the spirits." 

Precisely the same results which followed the introduction of Spiritualism 
in Auburn, grew out of the Misses Fox's visit to New York, namely, the 
unmitigated bitterness with which the press and pulpit commenced to assail 
the cause, and the unmistakable progress Avhich it seemed to make under 
the stimulus of their fierce denunciations. In fact, the opposition became 
so violent and unreasonable that it provoked investigation, Avere it only to 
inquire into the calumnies that were launched against the mediums and their 
friends, and the absurdly fallacious theories that were set up to account for 
the phenomena. The result of this feverish excitement was the foniiation 
of circles in every other house in town, and the rapid development of media 
in every other family. 

5 



66 HISTORY OF MODERN 

We have before stated that a psychological society of which A. J. Davis's 
revelations formed the concretive power, was in existence at the time of the 
Hydesville disturbances, whilst the issue of the Univerccelum preceded that 
event for more than a year. The visit of the Misses Fox in 1850 was most 
opportune, however. 

That Avhich had hitherto been regarded as the mysterious power of clair- 
voyance and the revelations of the magnetic sleep, now assumed a noiinal place 
as part of the direct communication which had ever subsisted between " the 
two worlds," and all the preternatural spontaniety of the magnetic movement 
was justly regarded as the inspiration of wise spirits ; a belief that was per- 
petually being strengthened by a variety of fresh phases of mediumship, all 
rife with intelligent proofs of the agency of individuals who had long been 
deemed lost to earth and its interests in the dim mystery of the grave. 

To arrive at any just conception of the excitement to which the public 
mind was stimulated by the development of open spiritual communion Avith 
the so-called " dead," and to appreciate the motives Avhich compelled the 
wise and candid to enter upon the field of investigation with the generous pur- 
pose of protesting against the calumnies and one-sided action of the press 
towards Spiritualism, it will be necessary to quote some of the journalistic 
slanders that v/ere thus put forth, and in so doing we shall make a few 
extracts from a small pamphlet on the early facts of Spiritualism by Messrs. 
Capron and Barron, in which the authoi^s, amongst other matters of interest, 
give a statement of the New York Express to which we especially desire to 
call attention. 

It would seem that some time antecedent to the Rochester knockings, 
a certain Professor Loomis had set forth a theory in the Scientific Ameri- 
can, concerning the vibratory effects of mill-dams, and this the sapient editor 
of the Express tortured into a full explanation of all the mysteries of modern 
Spiritualism, no doubt thinking that if he could destroy the spiritualistic basis 
of the rappings, the entire hydra-headed monster, whose existence he 
innocently attributed to the Fox family, would be destroyed at one fell swoop. 
His explanation reads thus : 

"The Rochester Spirits. — We have referred in our literary notices to various 
noises heard at Rochester, New York, and attributed to supernatural causes. 

"In the New York Scientific American we find the following very plausible and very 
simple explanation : 

"'Supernatural Knockings. — A 'knocking at the door at nights,' which has 
alarmed the good people of Rochester who attributed it to spiritual agency, is explained in 
the A77ierican Journal of Science, by Prof. Loomis, as the effect of the vibration of a dam 
over which the water falls. Prof Loomis describes this vibration as producing sounds like 
a loud knocking on the doors and walls of buildings, and gives a particular account of the 
phenomena as observed at the dams of Cayuga Falls, Ohio ; East Windsor, Conn. ; Spring- 
field and Northampton, Mass., etc. He attributes the vibrations to the friction of the 
water falling over the dam, and shows how these sounds are transmitted to a distance by the 
earth and produce that sudden and alarming knocking sound in dwellings. Prof Loomis 
has pointed to a very simple and easy method of checking this vibratory action of the dam, 
and the people of Rochester, who have been troubled by an invisible spirit, will find it 
easily exercised by mechanical means.' 

'"O philosophy and common sense, ye play the devil with theories!' said one of the 
snarlers in the days of the Encyclopedists." 

It will be seen that the New York Express makes no allowance for the 
locomotive character of these sounds, nor provides for their exorcism in its 
own city, nor in any other place except those afflicted by vibratory noises 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 67 

from the neighborhoood of waterfalls, whilst the agency by which these noises 
could communicate intelligence is disdainfully untouched altogether. 

On the other hand, one Professor Dewey, of Rochester, challenged the 
"respectable papers in New York, Boston, etc," to discredit the vibratory 
theory because it was [as he justly declared] inapplicable to the facts of the 
case ; but in its place he substituted the bold and wholly unsustained asser- 
tion that the Rochester manifestations were the simple production of fraud, 
on the part of the Foxes, a statement Avhich if true in their case, never 
touched similar manifestations which were now beginning to thicken in every 
part of the country; nevertheless, the New York papers, unable to furnish wea- 
pons of their own wherewith to annihilate Spiritualism, eagerly repeated 
Prof Dewey's assertions as facts, instead of perceiving that they were simply 
the ghosts of dead arguments, and as such could never enter into successful 
warfare with living spirits. 

One of the committee who had been appointed to examine the mediums 
at Rochester, and had actually signed a report in their favor which was read 
at Corinthian Hall, without any further investigation or assignable reason, save 
the desire to swim with the tide of popular opinion, coolly published in 
several papers an uncalled-for denunciation of the Rochester mediums, on 
the ground of fraud, a charge which his own former report had utterly 
repudiated. 

A number of base and groundless falsehoods were published also by one 
John W. Hurn, of Rochester, and though they were noted, answered, and 
triumphantly refuted one by one in the spiritual literature of the day, the 
papers that circulated the scandal almost invariably refused to give place to 
the refutation. 

A man calling himself Reverend (?) and a Doctor of Divinity, stood on the 
platform in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, and before a literary association 
whom he was called upon to instruct, and with less skill than would have 
been exhibited by an itinerant conjurer at a country fair, cracked his boots 
to the delight of his literary auditory, and declared that to be the explanation 
of all the disturbances at Hydesville. The learned and Christian gentleman's 
"complete explanation" was another item which found a wide and ready 
circulation in the leading journals of the day. 

Several other theories of equal value and pertinence were afforded exten- 
sive publicity through the same sources. Amongst these, " ankle joints," "^ 
"toe joints," and "finger snapping;" "machinery," and every description 
of imposture generally, largely figured ; the characters of nearly every per- 
son connected with the movement, were recklessly assailed, and scarcely a 
single opportunity of redress was afforded to the victims of these falsehoods 
by the press through their columns. One or two more specimens of the 
blindness which partisan feeling imposed upon the antagonists of this move- 
ment are selected from hundreds of similar lucubrations, not for their Avorth, 
but rather to show the exhaustive and illogical positions the opposition were 
compelled to assume. 

The New York Comme7'cial Advertiser writes : 

"Those Rochester Knockings. — We perceive that a gentleman in town* is lectur- 
ing on divers matters of inscrutable physiology', and endeavoring to establish some connec- 
tion between them and the rappings of the pretended spirits at Rochester. We are satis- 
fied, so far as the rappings are concerned, the gentleman may spare himself the trouble of 
discomsing on the subject. 

*(Rev. S. B. Brittain.) 



68 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" We have had a long and instructive conversation with a gentleman of intelligence from 
the vicinity of Rochester, and his account makes it clear to our minds that the mystery is 
not only an imposture, but a very clumsy one ; indebted for its success entirely to the cre- 
dulity of the auditors and spectators who are impressed by it. We say entirely to the 
credulity, for the clumsiness of the imposture is so gi'eat, there is so little art in the means 
adopted to avert detection, that people have literally to shut their eyes to avoid seeing. 
The only point upon which there is any successful trick is the manner in which the rapping 
is effected. It is easy enough to see, if people will not shut their eyes luilfitlly, that the 
girls effect the i-apping somehow. For instance, if they are prevented from plating them- 
selves in close proximity to a door, a table, a piano, or some object to rap on, the rapping 
soon ceases. . . . As for the moving of the table, anybody can see how that is done. 
A slight impulse with the foot gives a movement to a table which runs very readily on roll- 
ers, and as the spectators are required to gather close round the table when it is to be 
moved, nothing can be easier than to give it a start, or an imperceptible push merely with 
the toe of a boot." etc. 

Other statements of a personal character were made in relation to the 
friends and associates of the mediums in this article, so grossly false that Mr. 
E. W. Capron wrote to demand, in simple justice, a contradiction of the 
misstatements, in reference to himself at least. This was refused, and the edi- 
tor who claimed to represent the piety as well as the commercial interests of 
New York, wilfully committed himself to the circulation of known and 
proven falsehoods. 

Since the day when the New York Commercial Advertiser warned the 
world " only just to open its eyes " and they would discover the whole thing, 
and discover it to be the trick of girls and the impulses of "boot toes," up- 
wards of five thousand portraits of deceased persons have been executed un- 
der circumstances that rendered deception or mistake as impossible as to 
mistake the light of the mid-day sun for the glaring lamps of the city gas ; 
thousands and thousands of heavy, ponderable bodies have floated in space 
without liuman contact ; spirit-hands have been formed and melted in the 
grasp of the examinant ; pages, even to the amount of volumes, have been 
written by spirit hands alone ; millions of forms have been seen, described 
and recognized as well-remembered friends, through the mediumship of total 
strangers ; hidden things have been dragged to light ; secret crimes revealed ; 
thousands of darkened souls have been convinced of their immortal destiny 
by facts tested through the severest and most exhaustive scrutiny, and the 
few hundreds of "credulous, guhible" believers, in the genuine character of 
the manifestations, whom this editorial sage so bitterly satirizes, have swelled 
to a mighty army of eleven millions of persons ! 

And who are they whom he declares have only to open their eyes to detect 
the imposture ? Magistrates on the bench ; statesmen in the Senate ; law- 
yers, counsellors, judges, professors of learning and divinity, schoohnen and 
editors, doctors and divines, writers, thinkers, chemists, and men and wo- 
men of science, learning, intelligence and high repute ; plain fanners, shrewd 
mechanics, common-sense operatives ; the wise and the ignorant, the rich and 
the poor — every class and every grade of mind but those whom bigotry de- 
termines to remain blind, prejudice keeps so, lack of opportunity deprives of 
the knowledge, or those in whom lack of common-sense prevents its appre- 
ciation. 

The Northern Christian Advocate., the organ of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and as such, no doubt, the source from which the members of that 
respectable body felt authorized to expect truthful instruction concerning 
spiritual subjects, writes thus : 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 69 

"For the information of several friends at a distance who have written o us to know 
about the strange noises which are heard in this city we would say, that we know nothing of 
the matter. 

" Not being overstocked with gullibility and having very little taste for the low marvels 
which furnisli entertainment to some people, we have left the thing to take care of 
itself 

" The class of persons who deal in those mysteries — we mean juggling, sight-seeing, and 
sceptical — makes all inquiry uito the subject disgusting to a firm believer in revelation." 

After this cool assurance that the writer " knew nothing at all about the 
matter," and was deterred from inquiry about "the thing," from the character 
of the "class of persons" that generally took an interest in such subjects, this 
faithful "watchman on the v/alls of Zion" proceeds to make deliberate asser- 
tions of the fraud, imposture, and impiety of all the actors in the scene, with 
as much assurance as if he had actually performed his duty by a thorough 
and searching investigation of " the thing " he denounced. 

But still more audacious warriors were provoked to do battle with the spir- 
its than the flock of illogical scribblers whose only arguments were abuse and 
slander. 

Perceiving that the success of Spiritualism was based Vi^on fads, against 
which mere theories were but as swords brandished to the winds, a tribe of 
heroes arose who concluded that as the strength of Spiritualism lay in its 
facts, the force of the opposition must be based upon the same ground. Fore- 
most in the van of these attacks appeared Mr. John Stanley Grimes, a pro- 
fessional mesmerist and exhibitor of the art of electro-biology. 

Amidst a mass of other daring affirmations published in the Tribune, 
defamatory of the character and pretensions of all spirit mediums, Mr. Grimes 
goes on to assert that Mrs. Benedict, of Auburn, confessed to him, "that the 
raps heard in her presence were made by a board under the floor, poised like 
a lever, and so arranged that when she stood near the window she could rap 
upon a peg which was connected with one end of the lever and cause the 
other end to rise and knock against the middle of the floor." For the pro- 
duction of all the other marvels occurring in her presence, Mr. Grimes added 
" she — Mrs. Benedict — charged a young woman living in the next house, 
and two male cousins as confederates;" and as a climax to this confession, 
the trickster is made to declare, " that she had become acquainted with the 
women who practiced the same deception at Rochester, and had learned the 
art of them." 

As a full exposition of the value of this kind of testimony against Spirit- 
ualism, let it be remembered that Mrs. Benedict's mediumship was constantly 
exhibited in other houses besides her own, where pegs, loose boards, and 
mechanical contrivances were impossible ; also in various other towns besides 
Auburn, where her only acknowledged confederates resided ; that she ap- 
peared and acted as a medium on numerous occasions with the most acute 
and analytical investigating circles ; that her own house, boards, walls, carpets, 
and flooring had been repeatedly searched by sceptics, and above all, that up 
to the time of the pretended confession, Mrs. Benedict and the " Rochester 
women" had never met, and except by report, could have had no knowledge 
of each other's existence. 

Of the same character and value was the pretended expose afterwards 
elicited in 1851 by the bold attempt of the Rev. Chauncy Burr to present as 
genuine the statement of a woman who from family differences had become 
an enemy of the Foxes, after having been at one time on intimate teniis 
with them. 



7o HISTORY OF MODERN 

This person — a Mrs. Norman Culver — deposed to having been the 
mother confessor to Catharine Fox, who informed her that the manifestations 
were the artful concoction of herself, her sister, and cousin ; that the sounds 
were produced by the snapping of their ankle joints, and that when their feet 
were held by the committees in Rochester, the working of this wonderful 
piece of human machinery was supplied by a Dutch servant-girl, who rapped 
with her knuckles on the floor from the cellar below. 

Without attempting to controvert a statement so miserably flimsy in all its 
bearings that it cannot cover a single phase of "the manifestations," had they 
all been made, as this explanation would require, by raps on the ground and 
by the feet of the Fox sisters, it is enough to say that on the night when up- 
wards of three hundred people conversed by these same raps with the invisible 
knocker at Hydesville, not one of the Fox family was in the dwelling ; that 
at the time when the investigating committee at Rochester held the young 
•ladies' feet, they were not in their own house, but in places selected by the 
committee, and that if they had been at home, they could scarcely have 
availed themselves of the presence of the Dutch servant-girl, no such ap- 
pendage ever having fomied a part of their household. 

And yet there is scarcely a leading journal of the day which did not retail 
this bold falsehood, and so few were willing to admit the clear, candid, 
and well-attested refutation of the family and their friends, that to this day 
the " confession of Mrs. Norman Culver" is quoted as an argument why Spir- 
itualism, slain at the hands of Rev. Chauncey Burr in 185 1, cannot be alive 
this day, although eleven millions of American Spiritualists arise to testify to 
the fact of its existence. 

Truly it may be said that the hand that once ventures to launch a slander 
on the ocean of public opinion has signed the death-warrant of truth in that 
direction, and committed an act irrevocable even in his own person. No 
matter how frail be the craft in which the falsehood is launched it never 
returns to its source, but drifts on forever ! 

He who encounters the jDoison rarely finds the antidote by its side, and so 
the tides of eternity bear onward forever the condemnatory verdict which 
brands the slanderer as the murderer of truth and a traitor to the well-being 
of humanity. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK — CO NTINUED. 

" O pure reformers, not in vain 

Your trust in human kind, 
The good which bloodshed could not gain. 

Your peaceful zeal shall find. 
The truths ye urge are borne abroad 

By every wind and tide ; 
The voice of Nature and of God 

' Speaks out upon your side. ' " 

J. G. Whittier. 

Hon. Horace Greeley and the Fox Family — The New York Circle and Con- 
ference — The Press — Our Views of Spirits and Spiritualism Now and 
Then. 

Amongst the many instances of ignorance, bigotry, and misrepresentation, 
which assailed tlirough the press the first attempts of spirits to communicate 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 71 

•with mortals, it is gratifying to notice the candid spirit in which the New- 
York Trihime opened its columns to evidence on both sides of the question. ,^^^ 

About the time when the Misses Fox took up their temporary residence at J 
Barnum's Hotel, in the city, several letters from investigators were published 
in its columns, detailing their experiences at the various cii-cles they had at- 
tended, and even when the writers -withheld their own conclusions on the 
results of the seances, their narrations — presenting as they did an array of 
evidence of a test character — impressed the public mind, and prompted a 
wide-spread spirit of investigation. 

Some of the leading journals became rabid in their denunciations, others 
considerably modified their tone, but the rappings went on ; circles Avere 
fomied in every direction, and fresh phases of the phenomena perpetually 
sprung up to meet and overwhelm the vain theories that professed to explain 
them away. Little children, sensitive women, grave men, and even learned 
professors found themselves suddenly possessed of the gifts that had been so 
ridiculed or questioned. The leading minds of the city tlironged the hotel of 
the Rochester mediums, and distinguished visitors from far and near took part 
in their seances with ever-increasing astonishment and interest. Numerous 
good test-mediums became developed for "the power," and filled the city 
with available means for general infonniation and research into this new and 
occult telegraphy with the "beloved ones gone before." 

The following letter from the Hon. Horace Greeley, containing a statement 
of his views respecting the rappings produced through the Fox family, though 
written with characteristic caution, becomes highly interesting from the fact 
that, as editor of the Trihime, Mr. Greeley's generous and manly treatment of 
the matter through its colunans had already exposed him. to the calumnious 
sneers which were everywhere directed against those who, without avowed 
partisanship for the subject, ventured even to treat it with candid impa.rtiality : 

"Mrs. Fox and her three daughters left our city yesterday, on their return to Rochester, 
after a stay here of some weeks ; during which they have subjected the mysterious influence 
by which they seem to be accompanied to every reasonable test and to the keen and critical 
scrutiny of hundreds who have chosen to visit them, or whom they have been invited to 
visit. The rooms which they occupied at the hotel have been repeatedly searched and scru- 
tinized ; they have been taken without an hour's notice into houses they had never before 
entered ; they have been unconsciouslyjplaced on a glass surface, concealed under the carpet in 
order to interrupt electrical vibrations ; they have been disrobed by a committee of ladies, 
appointed without notice, and insisting that neither of them should leave the room until the 
investigation had been made, etc. , etc. ; yet we believe no one to this moment pretends 
that he has detected either of them in producing or causing the 'rappings,' nor do we think 
any of their contemnors has invented a plausible theory to account for the production of 
these sounds, nor the singular intelligence which [certainly at times] has seemed to be mani- 
fested through them. Some ten or twelve days since they gave up their rooms at the hotel, 
and devoted the remainder of their sojourn liere to visiting several families, to which they 
had been invited by persons interested in the subject, and subjecting the singular influence 
to a closer, calmer examination than could be given to it at an hotel, and before casual com- 
panies of strangers, drav/n together by vagiie curiosity more than rational interest, or prede- 
termined and invincible hostility. Our own dwelling was among those they thus visited, 
not only submitting to, but courting the fullest and keenest inquiry with regard to the al- 
leged ' manifestations' from the spirit-world by which they were attended. 

' ' We devoted what time we could spare from our duties, out of three days, to this subject ; 
and it would be the basest cowardice not to say that we are convinced beyond a doubt of 
their perfect integrity and good faith in the premises. 

" Whatever may be the origin or cause of the •' rappings,' the ladies in whose presence they 
occur do not make them. We tested this thoroughly, and to our entire satisfaction. Their 
conduct and bearing is as unlike that of deceivers as possible ; and we think no one ac- 
quainted wit!i them could Relieve them at all capable of engaging in. so daring, impious, and 



72 HISTORY OF MODERA"- 

shameful a juggle as this would be if they caused the sounds. And it is not possible that 
such a juggle should have been so long perpetrated in public. 

"A juggler performs one feat quickly, and hurries on to another; he does not devote week 
after week to the same thing over and over, deliberately, in full view of hundreds who sit 
beside or confronting him, in broad daylight, not to enjoy, but to detect his trick. A de- 
ceiver naturally avoids conversation on the subject of his knavery, but these ladies converse 
freely and fully with regard to the origin of these 'rappings' in their dwellings, years ago ; 
•the various sensations they caused in the neighborhood ; the excitement created ; the pro- 
gress of the developments ; what they have seen, heard and experienced, from first to last. 
If all were false, they could not fail to have involved themselves ere this in a lab}"rinth of 
blasting contradictions, as each separately gives accounts of the most astounding develop- 
ments at this or that time. Persons foolish enough so to commit themselves without reserve 
or caution could not have deferred a thorough self-exposure for a single week. 

" Of course a variety of opinions of so strange a matter would naturally be formed l^y the 
various persons who have visited them, and we presume that those who have merely run into 
their room for an hour or so, and listened, among a huddle of strangers, to a medley of 
questions — not all admitting of very profitable answers- — put to certain invisible intelligen- 
ces, and answered by 'rappings,' or singular noises on the floor, table, etc., as the alphabet 
was called over, or otherwise, would naturally go away, perhaps puzzled, probably disgusted, 
rarely convinced. 

"It is hardly possible that a matter, ostensibly so gi'ave, could be presented under cir- 
cumstances less favorable to conviction. But of those who have enjoyed proper opportu- 
nities for a full investigation, we believe that fully three-foiirths are convinced, as we are, 
that these singular sounds and seeming manifestations are not produced by Mrs. Fox and 
her daughters, nor by any human being connected witlT,them. ' How they are caused, and 
whence they proceed,' are questions which open a much wider field of inquiry, with which 
way marks we do not profess to be familiar. He must be well acquainted with the arcana 
of the universe who shall presume dogmatically to decide that these manifestations are nat- 
ural or supernatural. The ladies say that they are informed that this is but the beginning 
of a new era, or economy, in which spirits clothed in the flesh are to be more closely and 
palpably connected with those who liave put on immortality ; that the manifestations have 
already appeared in many other families, and are destined to be diffused and rendered 
clearer, until all who will may communicate freely with their friends who have shuffled off 
this miortal coiL 

" Of all this we know nothing, and shall guess nothing; but if we were simply to print 
[which we shall not] the questions we asked and the answers we receivedj during a two hours' 
uninterrupted conference with the 'rappers,' we should at once be accused of having done 
so expressly to sustain the theory which regards these manifestations as the utterances of 
departed spirits. ' H. G." 

The ball once set rolling in New York City, sped on with an imj>etus which 
soon transcended the power of the press, pulpit or public to arrest, despite of 
eveiy force that was brought to bear against it. 

In January, 185 1, Judge Edmonds, whose potential influence on the pro- 
gress of Spiritualism is too widely known to need comment here, commenced 
a series of investigations which even in their earliest stage formed the nucleus 
of most important developments, extending far beyond the circle of even his 
wide-spread influence. Many other distinguished persons, strengthened by 
the example of the learned Judge, devoted themselves to the investigation of 
the stibject with the almost invariable results of conviction that follow. 

One of the most important conversions to Spiritualism that marks this 
period was that of Mr. Charles Partridge, a merchant of New York, whose 
probity and public spirit had already secured for him the highest considera- 
tion of his fellow-citizens. After the return of the Rochester mediums to their 
home, Mr. Partridge and wife, being on a tour in Western New York, took oc- 
casion to visit the Fox family at Rochester, and there pursued their inquiries 
into Spiritualism with more leisure and deliberation than the crowded seances 
in New York City afforded. 

Mr. Partridge was ap entire stranger to the mediums, and a man of keen 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 73 

perception, and a^cute power of observation. These, together with his nsual 
habits of business-like preparation, he brought to bear upon his researches, and 
so astonishing were their results, both in respect to physical joower and m'ental 
intelligence, that the whole structure of his preconceived opinions Avas over- 
thrown, and an array of testimony presented which completely " rolled b&ck 
the stone from the door of the sepulchre" for him, and disclosed within it the 
gloritied forms of the white -robed angels of eternal life, instead of the corrupt- 
ible ashes of death's unfathomable mystery. 

To afford the most perfect opportunities for deliberate investigation to him- 
self and his circle of friends, Mr. Partridge procured the services of Kate and 
JMargaretta Fox at his residence in New York City, when the most extraor- 
dinary and varied fonns of intelligent phenomena became so common and 
abundant that to resist conviction on the part of those who were privileged to 
attend these circles became impossible. 

Although Mr. Partridge's conclusions were only arrived at through slow 
processes of rigid and exhaustive scrutiny, their results [when once his power- 
ful mind apprehended the fulness of the stupendous truth of sjoiiit commu- 
nion] were practical and important. 

In the summer of 185 1 Mr. Partridge became one of a society entitled 
the "New York Circle." It was the first organic movement that had yet 
been established in connection with spirit communion. 

The principal medium of the circle was Mr. Edward P. Fowler, then 
a student, but subsequently a distinguished member of the medical profession. 
Accompanied by many physical signs of a startling character, \lx. Fowler's 
mediumship was of the most varied and interesting kind. 

The spirits wrote manuscripts in difterent languages and Oriental charac- 
ters without the aid of human hands, and his communications, spoken or 
written in the trance condition, were often of the most exalted and scientific 
nature. 

Fortunate in securing from one of their own number the aid of a telegraphic 
operator whose position removed him beyond the suspicion of interested 
motives, the "New York Circle" continued for some years to meet together 
with delight and ^Drofit to themselves, and benefit to the world, which was 
occasionally favored with reports of their wonderful and instructive manifes- 
tations. 

Amongst the earliest members of this association were Hon. J. W. 
Edmonds, Dr. J. B. Gray and lady, Charles Partridge and lady. Dr. and Mrs. 
Warner, Dr. and Mrs. R. T. Hallock, Robert T. Shannon, W. J. Baner, Dr. 
Hull, Mr. Edward Fowler, Miss Fowler, Professor Bush, Rev. S. B. Britain, 
Almon Roff, etc. 

Besides these, many persons eminent for their talent or of distinguished 
public position, were from time to time invited to take part in the seances, 
and mediums of remarkable phenomenal gifts were not unfrequently de- 
veloped under their influence ; in fact it has been asserted that all the regular 
members of this interesting association were baptized A^dth the Pentecostal 
fire, and became in their own persons mediums for various forms of spirit 
communion. 

It was at one of these sittings that Mr. Henry Gordon, a medium from 
Springfield, Massachusetts, first exhibited "in Ncav York the astonishing feat 
of floating in the air. After the first manifestation of this kind, the marvel 
was frequently repeated in the perscni of this same medium, and his transit 
tlirough the air fur a distance of sbcty feet at the residence of Dr. Gray, in 



74 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

Lafayette place, occurred in the presence of a large number of unimpeach 
able witnesses, including the venerable master of the house and Mr. Charles 
Partridge. But these new and grand fields of observation seemed to their 
deeply-interested participants to be misused when limited within the circle of 
private families, especially of the distinguished position occupied by most of 
Dr. Gray's visitors. 

It was resolved that a conference should be established where the expe- 
riences of all present could be freely exchanged, and to which strangers from 
a distance could be admitted without the formalities attending more exclusive 
gatherings. 

Mr. Partridge, whose wealth and standing shielded his motives from the 
least suspicion of interest, but whose genial, large-hearted, reform ator}^ nature 
was peculiarly attractive to the community, generously tendered a handsome 
suite of reception rooms in his own house for the accommodation of the pro- 
posed conference. 

As the initiatory step towards forming a basis for the future guidance of 
those attending the conference, a circular was issued of which the following 
is a copy : 

"Dear Sir, — Undei-standing that you entertain the following views, I cordially invite you 
to a social meeting of persons of like sentiments to be held at on, etc. 

" 1st. That the Divine Author of the Universe is a conscious Spiritual Being. 

"2d. That he has revealed somewhat of the spiritual world in ages long since passed, and 
especially that the Jewish people were a medium of such revelation. 

"3d. That in our ov^-n day and through our own American people, manifestations are being 
made from the spiritual into the natural world, whereby the immortality and unbroken con- 
tinuity of the personal existence of all men is being daily demonstrated. 

"4th. That an honest, frank, and tolerant interchange of views and conclusions will tend to 
promote a beneficial use and extension of such spiritual manifestations. 

"My purpose in inviting this meeting is furthermore, after due consideration, to ascertain 
whether anything, and wliat, can be done by associative action in reference to the advance- 
ment of harmonious and profitable intercourse with the world of spirits. 

"I am, etc., ." 

This unassuming little circular was not issued even under the authority of 
the gentleman whose house was the place of gathering, so careful were the 
real leaders of the spiritual movement to avoid any appearance of dicta- 
tion or assumption of a power which they justly felt was in the hands of 
higher and wiser beings than themselves. 

Astounded with the revealments which had been made to them, convinced, 
if the communion between this and higher worlds was a truth, it was one of 
the most solemn and important kind that humanity had ever been blessed 
with, and predicated future revelations of almost illimitable use and grandeur 
to mankind, the early pioneers of Spiritualism felt they had been entrusted 
with the discovery of mines of wealth which it would be sacrilege for them to 
reserve to themselves, yet blind and helpless as they were in the hands of a 
world almost unknown to them either in power or purpose, they were unable 
to acknowledge aught but the agency of intelligent spiritual beings, and the 
assurance that they were dealing with them, in a wisdom beyond their own, 
and a control vv'hich was as resistless as the breath of life that animated them. 

The first meeting of the New York Conference, took place on the 14th of 
November, 185 1, when several persons besides the members of the New 
York Circle were present. 

The views of the assemblage were kindly solicited, and their personal ex- 
periences listened to and discussed, and during their deliberations, the frequent 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 75 

movements of the table and the sounds of rappings, etc., testified that the 
interest of the scene was shared in by a host of invisible witnesses. 

From that time the weekly conferences continued without interruption for 
more than two years in their original fomi ; that is, in the semi-private char- 
acter of social gatherings. Being obliged to seek another place of meeting 
in consequence of the repairs going on in j\Ir. Partridge's house, the confer- 
ence assumed a more public though somewhat heterogeneous character. In 
connection with the Sunday meetings of the Spii'itualists, or at halls hired foi 
the purpose, they have now continued \Aih. but little intermission for some 
eighteen years. 

It is not, however, from a casual visit to the New York Conference under 
its present aspect that the faintest idea can be gathered of its utility in pro- 
moting the dissemination and discussion of spiritual verities. The free and 
unconservative character of its present platform renders it hable to intrusion 
from all classes of mind, and all shades of opinion ; hence the meetings are 
now often inliarmonious, controversial, and even anti-spiritual ; but in its 
earlier sessions, it faithfully fulfilled the original design of its founders, and 
formed a rallying point for the believers, a source of instruction and informa- 
tion to the auditory, and a fountain of inspiration for those who, assembling 
together under the stimulus of high and often sublime thoughts, felt " the 
tongues of fire descending on their heads" in the unity of these accordant 
gatherings. 

]\Iedia were often present at these meetings, and either by rappings or 
trance speaking, aftbrded the invisible projectors of the mighty spiritual 
movement an opportunity of representing their \-iews and offering wise counsel 
on the various plans of action that were suggested for the wider dissemination 
of spiritual truths. 

In the following chapter we shall present a few extracts from the minutes 
of the first conferences held in New York prior to the publication of the 
Spiritual Telegraph. A faithful record of these interesting meetings was 
made and preserved by the Secretary, Dr. R. T. Hallock, to whose courtesy 
we are indebted for the valuable testimony it aftbrds. It may seem a matter 
of surprise and even of indignation, that the early facts of modern Spiiitualism 
should have found no wide-spread or truthful field of representation until the 
publication of organs especially devoted to the subject could be accomplished. 

It is almost incredible that in America, where the newspaper is the neces- 
sity of the people's life, its columns should have left either unrepresented, or 
worse still, misrepresented, a subject of such vast and universal interest and 
phenomena so wonderful and well attested as Spiritualism abounds with. 
Yet the marvel of this treatment ceases when we attempt to compare the 
nature of the movement with our own preconceived opinions concerning the 
possibilities of spiiitual existence. Were not these of the most vague and 
undefined character ? and have not all our views of disembodied spiritual life 
been full either of the sepulchral awe which thrcAV over it the veil of mysti- 
cism and terror, or else we were taught to treat this most sublime and mo- 
mentous subject with the fool's argmiients — ridicule, unreasoning denial, and 
senseless satire. 

The immortal soul of man has either been imprisoned by dreary supersti- 
tion in the loathsome charnel house, or banished by ignorance to the nursery 
and ale house. There has been no midway in man's unphilosophical treat- 
ment of the great theme ; hence when Spiritualism came, with its common- 
sense realities, scientific methods of communion, and analytical philosophy, 
its form was so totally at variance with all preconceived notions of what a 



76 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Spirit should do, or how a "ghost" should act, that the human soul was an 
unrecognized stranger in the land of its birth and the world of its kindred 
humanity. 

To the superstitious, its dignity was shorn of its shroud and the attend- 
ant horrors of the grave. To the pious, a spirit was a bodiless idea, a gnome, 
a sylph, an archangel or archfiend; anything, rather than the ripe fruit of a 
purified humanity ; and nothing, rather than aught that humanity could con- 
ceive of. To the bigot, all spiritual existence but that which was manifested 
in Judea eighteen centuries ago was "satanic" in its origin and "evil" in per- 
sonality. To the scoffer, the only idea of any existence that could not be 
pounded in a mortar or manipulated in a chemist's retort was "humbug," 
imposture, "old woman's fables, or nursery tales," and thus, as there is but a 
step from the sublime to the ridiculous, the demoniac theory on the one hand, 
and the illogical breath of ridicule on the other, was all that the world's repre- 
sentatives in press and pulpit could bring to bear on the subject. In fact 
they only knew enough to condemn the souls of their ancestors to the keep- 
ing of the evil one, or drive them back from their work of angelic ministry 
by the jibes of cold materialism. Whilst our sense of reverence for the 
exalted themes of immortality and our gratitude to the beloved immortals is 
shocked and offended by the denunciations of bigotry, and the painfully irrele- 
vant misconceptions of ignorance, let us with modest humility ask ourselves, 
with such teachings as the world has received on such subjects, what right we 
have to look for a more general spirit of enlightenment. 

The status of human opinion on the sublime questions of immortal life are 
precisely what priestcraft and indolent superstition have made it. If the 
spirits had come in accordance with the cherished fables of antiquity, or the 
shapes which this same superstition had devised for them, they would doubt- 
less have been received with more welcome and credit than in the simplicity 
of their risen humanity. But whilst the true believers had great cause to be 
thankful that the scales had fallen from their eyes, who could censure the 
multitude for "walking in gross darkness" so long as the people and their 
teachers were "the blind leading the blind?" 



CHAPTER VIIL 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE. 

" The weapons which your hands have found 
Are those which heaven hath wrought — 
Light, truth, and love ; your battle ground, 
The free, broad field of thought." 

J. G. Whittier. 

The Conference and its Influence — Spiritualism in Waterford, N. Y. — The 
Ecclesiastical Commission and what Came of it — Narratives Given at the 
Conference, New York — Mr. Hooper's Involuntary Mediumship — Edward 
Fowler and Warren Boynton — Excommunication. 

As the meetings of the New York Conference became more fully attended 
by strangers from a distance, the recital of the phenomenal facts transpiring 
in various sections of the country increased the interest of the gatherings 
and tended to disclose the universality of the movement. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 77 

During the first session of the conference in 185 1 Mr. Smith, of Nc)n^•ich, 
related many instances of fine test commimications received through various 
media residing in that city, who presented the then rare faculty of miitating 
the writing of deceased persons, and by pantomimic action graphically repre- 
senting their peculiarities, and identifying their names by symbolical pictures 
psychologically impressed upon the media. 

The Rev. R. P. Ambler, the editor of the Spiritual Messenger, already in 
successful operation in Springfield, Massachusetts, related many extraordinaiy 
facts of spiritual phenomena occurring in that city, where the number of 
mediums, public and j^rivate, was believed already to exceed two hundred. 

Drs. Brewer and Beebe testified to the extraordinary interest that was 
manifested in the cit)^ of Brooklyn, New York, on the subject of Spirituahsm. 
At circles held in their own families, many media had been rapidly developed, 
and within the range of their immediate acquaintance above fifty circles had 
been formed, at which rapping, writing, spirit-lights, movement of heavy 
bodies, and various other phases of "the power" were abundantly manifest. 
Rev. William Fishbough related still more striking and numerous proofs of 
the progress of the cause in Williamsburgh, New York, where he stated that 
hundreds of circles were being held nightly, and openly-avowed believers 
were multiplying on every side. Several other gentlemen gave similar reports 
from other sections of New York State, especially from Troy, Waterford, 
Utica, Central and Western New York. Although not in connection with the 
New York Conference, it belongs to our subject and period to relate the origin 
of Spiritualism in Vv'aterford, a village about four miles from Troy, where the 
manifestations had already taken strong hold of a large number of the com- 
munity. 

The reports from this city were so startling, and the effect of conviction 
was becoming so obvious and wide spread, that a reverend gentleman, one of 
the ofiiciating pastors of the large manufacturing village of Waterford, waited 
upon General BuUard, a distinguished lawyer of the place, and begged him, 
in company with four other of the most prominent men of the district, to 
institute inquiries into the " obnoxious thing," with a view to crashing its infi- 
delic and satanic tendencies. 

Without questioning as to how far the reverend gentleman's duty, as a 
minister to human souls, might have required \iv~, personal inquisition into the 
" dangerous delusion," the good-natured friend to whom he delegated the 
duty promised compliance with his request, and as himself and two others of 
the investigating party were famed for their legal -acumen, and the whole 
number were selected for the qualities which especially fitted them for the 
office of spiritual " detectives," it was confidently believed that if Spiritualism 
had not already been exploded — a consummation which each succeeding day 
was expected to produce — its annihilation at the hands of the Waterford 
investigators was so inevitable that their reverend employer already began to 
busy himself in preparations for celebrating its funeral obsequies in his ensuing 
Sabbath-day sermon. 

Having learned that "spirit rapping" was to be found in its most startling 
prominence in the person of a little daughter of Mr. Anson Attwood, of Troy, 
and that the parents of the child had generously opened their house free of 
charge to investigators, the party, headed by General BuUard, proceeded to 
fulfil their mission by calling at the house in question. 

They were freely admitted by Mrs. Attwood, who, without requesting even 
the formality of their names, introduced them to her little girl, who at the 
time was amusing herself with the toys proper to her age. 



78 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

This total uraconcern, together with the childish appearance and occuj'jation 
of the young priestess, somewhat disconcerted the grave magisterial party 
who had come prepared to detect well-laid plans of imposture, or confront 
the impious craft of satanic agency, but "not to play doll games with children, 
or learn metaphysics from babes and sucklings." 

The little medium was " out of sorts," the mother said, and having been 
tortured into ill temper and impatience by " incessant attendance on circles," 
she had to be coaxed by a liberal supply of candy^ under the stimulus of 
Avhich she consented to " sit for the gentlemen." ^ At this crisis there was not 
one of the party but would have gladly retreated from a scene where they 
felt their dignity as " sensible men and magistrates" ridiculously compromised 
by the initiatory steps of their mission. 

They could well understand — and some of them even reverently accord 
their behef to — the idea that the Supreme Being, the Ruler of the Universe, 
had delegated to man the right to sell passports to a Roman Catholic heaven 
at so much a head, put a tariff on the liberty to commit sins at so much 
apiece, or that a Deity of infinite goodness and wisdom should commission two 
she-hears to come out of a wood and tear forty and tivo little children because 
they called Elisha the Prophet, bald head.'^' All this and volumes more of the 
same nature, " they could believe and still adore ; " but the idea of bribing a 
cliild with a piece of candy. to telegraph a message from a departed spirit ! 
The very bare thought was so full of impiety and absurdity that, but for the 
lady-like self-possession of Mrs. Attwood, the doughty champions of truth 
would have run away and hid themselves for sheer shame. A single quarter 
of an hour's experience of the marvels out\trought through this most undig- 
nified means, however, soon changed their views, rivetted their profoundest 
interest, and made them forget the agency of the unconcerned little one 
altogether. 

Seated on a high chair, vath her tiny feet resting on a footboard, the medium 
ail-unconsciously munched away at her sweetmeats whilst the spirits lifted 
her about and moved her from place to place Avith the ease of a feather blown 
by the winds. 

Meantime the heavy table around which the party were gathered rocked 
and rolled like a ship at sea ; the chairs of the gentlemen, with their occupants, 
were moved bodily, whilst loud raps sounding from various parts of the room 
spelled out names, dates, and messages, identical with numerous deceased 
friends of the astounded witnesses. The wonderful and occult science hidden 
in these mysterious forces, and the preternatural mass of intelligence spelled 
out in choice and characteristeric phrases, soon stamped the dignity of a stu- 
pendous revelation from the hitherto mysterious realms of immortality upon 
this phase of spiritual telegraphy. 

The sitters became the deeply-moved recipients of many an affecting token 
of a love that death cannot change and a mental fire that the grave cannot 
quench, and thus they soon forgot the youth and insignificance of the little 
telegraphic wire that the spirits, were using. 

The lonely and bereaved heart of one was cheered by the precious tokens 
of identity which proved the undying love of a still living friend. Another, 
who had long groped in the blindness of cold materialism, beheld the glorious 
sunlight of immortality proved in the continued life of a cherished parent. 
Others perceived the key which unlocked the dim mysteries of religion and 
the problem of miracles wrested from the skeleton hand of death and cast 

* Vide II. Kings, ii. 24. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. ' 79 

into the open lap of humanity. All felt that they stood on the threshold of 
the once-closed temple of immortal mind — that they were in the sublime 
presence of " the mighty dead," and, putting the shoes of their materiality 
from off" their feet, they felt that they were treading "on holy ground." 

This deeply interesting seance was prolonged to an unusual length, and 
just as it was about to terminate a spirit, identifying himself with a deceased 
brother of General Bullard's, expressed a desire to communicate. Up to 
this time the "detectives" had wholly forgotten that the purpose of their 
visit was to expose the manifestations and disprove their spiritual origin rather 
than to yield up their own convictions in the opposite direction. Struck v/ith 
a sudden sense of his duty towards his reverend friend, and with something 
of remorseful feehng for his breach of faith in the premises, the General 
determined to make one final eftbrt to prove the whole thing a delusion. 

His reason was strongly in favor of the communicating spirit's identity with 
that of his brother, but ere he Avould allow his judgment to pronounce in 
favor of his reason, he mentally framed this sentence : 

" If this be indeed the spirit of my brother, let him move that child in her 
chair towards me." 

General Bullard was sitting at the side of the table opposite to the medium, 
and as it was a very large one there was room between any of the party for 
the movement of a chair. His wish was that the child's chair should be 
moved a little towards the end of the table which was nearest to himself, but 
before he could conclude the sentence in his own mind which he was endea- 
voring to frame, the child, chair and all, was lifted, carried, or moved, none 
present could define how, completely round the table and set lightly down by 
the side of General Bullard. The whole party were so paralyzed b)^ the 
sudden action, the little girl herself Avas so unconscious of any force being 
exerted to cause this change of locale, involving the movement of the chair, 
without the least disturbance of her attitude, for a space of at least ten feet, 
that no one could utter even an ejaculation, until General Bullard, to whom 
alone the movement was peculiarly significant, started up with an irresistible 
impulse, exclaiming, " B}' Heaven, it is all true ! " 

When the investigating party at lengdi returned with their very unexpected 
report, the reverend gentleman in whose behalf they had undertaken it was 
so struck with consternation at the result that he concluded to continue the 
inquiry in his own person, and as the spirits had promised mediumistic gifts 
to some of the party if they would "sit for development," the worthy minister 
joined them, and actually became a fine writing medium, and ultimately a 
confirmed believer in the truths of Spiritualism. 

Our space does not allow us to follow up the interesting records of chcles 
which grew out of tliis first introduction of the subject to Waterford. 

Many remarkable mediums were developed soon aftervrards, amongst 
whom was Mr. Warren Boynton, a most excellent writing medium ; a lady 
who subsequently became the wife of General Bullard; Mr. John Proper, a 
celebrated and reliable test medium, and many others of equally remarkable 
mediumistic gifts. Miss Fanny Davis, a young lady residing at Lansingburg, 
about two miles from Waterford, also caught the afflatus and at a somewhat 
later period became the subject of a protracted trance, during which she lay 
motionless and unconscious for forty-five days. 

On awakening from this remarkable condition of coma. Miss Davis became 
a higlily-developed trance speaker, in which character her ministrations have 
instructed and delighted public audiences of many thousands of persons from 
that period to the present day. 



8o HISTORY OF MODERN 

At Ballston Spa, Saratoga, Glenn's Falls, and especially in the capital city 
of New York — Albany — new and wonderful phases of spirit-power began to 
arise about this time. 

The rumor of the "opening of the gates" reached these places, and 
induced the members of various families to "sit round the table to see what 
would come of it." 

When the New York Conference were first holding their sessions in 185 1, 
and earnestly discussing the means of extending the knowledge and culti- 
vating the gifts of spiritual communion, thousands of circles were being held 
in ditferent sections of the State. 

Few if any experiments of this kind continued beyond the third sitting 
without unfolding mediumistic powers in one or more of the parties present, 
and the reports which were weekly rendered at that conference tended to 
show that there was at least one public medium for every toAvn, city, and 
hamlet in the Empire State of America, besides thousands of individuals in 
families whose names were denied to the public, though their gifts as spirit 
mediums were the subject of popular comment and notoriety. 

At a meeting of the conference early in the year 1852, Dr. Greaves, of 
Milwaukee, a gentleman eminent for his truthful character and success as a 
physician, related a new development of "the power," as it occurred under 
his own observation in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a scientific 
man, ever prosecuting his researches into nature's laws with the humility of 
a scholar. Dr. Greaves had investigated animal magnetism, and realized 
with considerable interest its singular results in clairvoyance and the cure of 
diseases. 

In the year 1850, and before he had more than heard a faint rumor of the 
"Rochester knockings," a clairvoyant of remarkable lucidity informed him 
in the magnetic sleep that the spiritual manifestations now so rife in the 
East would appear in that city in a few days, mentioning two individuals 
[patients of the Doctor's], who would become mediums. 

To the mother of one of these young ladies the Doctor soon after com- 
municated the singular prophecy, when the lady expressed herself greatly 
pleased with the intelligence, as being likely to account for certain strange 
noises which they had heard for several nights past, and which had caused 
them equal alarm and annoyance. At that time the family had never even 
heard of the "Rochester knockings;" but, acting under the advice of their 
trusted physician, they formed a circle, obtained loud rappings and intelligent 
responses, and within a few weeks afterwards, the father of the young lady 
informed Doctor Greaves with great emotion that "they had received, through 
Mary, communications from all their friends that had died, and that strangers 
visiting them could obtain equally satisfactory responses." 

In this, as in one or two other cases he detailed, Dr. Greaves could trace 
his own agency, and occasionally the influence of his magnetic operations, in 
evolving medium power in this city, but he added that it no sooner became 
known that he was interested in the subject than he was invited to attend 
circles in every part of Milwaukee, and witness the mediumistic gifts of at 
least thirty or forty families, who had but just caught the faint echo of the 
glad tidings of the communion, as it made its way thus far West, inducing 
them, as in New York, "to sit round the table" for mere curiosity, and arise 
from it startled by the conviction that the humble domestic board had 
become the family altar, at which the beloved immortals had been the 
ministering spirits. 

At one house the most astonishing feats of strength were performed 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 8 1 

tlirough the inediumship of a fragile young girl. A sofa on which four full- 
grown persons were seated was rocked to and fro as violently as the strength 
of the sofa would permit. Odic lights of a deep red color floated around 
a darkened room, forming, melting, and being subjected to the closest 
scrutiny, affording to the narrator [a scientific chemist] the most conclusive 
assurance that they were not of mundane origin or composition. 

On several occasions a yoxy heavy dining-table was held suspended in the 
air with several persons seated on it whose feet did not even touch the floor. 

Mr. Train, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, detailed at the same conference many 
equally astonishing evidences of phenomenal Spiritualism, Avhich had arisen 
in his section of the State. Mr. Train seemed disposed to attribute the 
origin of the manifestations in part to the influence of magnetism. His own 
investigations, he stated, had conducted him from the study of Swedenborg 
to the writings of A. J. Davis, and from thence to the practice of animal 
magnetism, in the course of which his subjects not only became claii-voyant, 
but were often attended by loud rappings and strange movements of the 
furniture. Up to the time when the reports of spirit circles at the East 
reached them, they attributed these unusual sights and sounds to magnetism, 
or a peculiar action of electricity evolved by the condition of ma^etized 
subjects. After reading the experiences of others, they resolved to test by 
alphabetical signs the possibility of communing with spirits through these 
means; and in their success, numbers were induced to form circles, and thus, 
he added, during the last year [1S51] Spiritualism had extended over the 
■ State, and into adjoining sections of country, with inconceivable rapidity and 
power. 

J\Ir. Nimthorne, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, related instances of the rapid 
development of medium powers in quite one half of any given number who 
would consent to sit in circles. He mentioned a striking case of phenomenal 
power that had been exliibited at a recent circle in Bridgeport, in which 
a spirit who had died by a railway accident produced the sounds of the 
whistle and locomotive, and besides imitating the sound of escaping steam, 
succeeded in imparting to more than a dozen people assembled the sense of 
strong currents of air rushing through the room. 

Early in February, 1852, Mr. Partridge, having returned from a visit to 
Massachusetts, gave a most encouraging account of the progress of the cause 
in that State. 

-About the beginning of the year 1850, a gentleman of Fitchburg, Massa- 
chusetts, Mr. Edward Hooper, whilst sitting writing at his desk, found his 
hand moved by a strange and irresistible influence to inscribe, without any 
volition of his own, these words on the page — - Your father is dead. Mr. 
Hooper's father at that time resided in England, and at the last account 
received from him' was in the enjoyment of perfect health; hence, the writing, 
strange as it seemed to be, originating from no impression on his mind, 
caused little anxiety until it was repeated imder precisely similar circum- 
stances a few hours later, and was confirmed in five days by the receipt of a 
letter from England, announcing his father's death. 

The singularity of this involuntary and prophetic act of mediumship 
stimulated Mr. Hooper and several of his friends to hold circles, from which 
had arisen a great variety of phenomenal facts, strong medium powers, and a 
remarkable degree of interest in the subject. 

Mr. Partridge, at the request of a large body of Spiritualists in Templeton, 
Massachusetts, gave a lecture on the subject, which was listened to by an 
immense auditory with the most profound interest. 
6 



82 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Many other places in Massachusetts and the rest of the New England 
States, were represented in the conference to be progressing with astonishing 
celerity in the knowledge of spiritual communion, and the unfoldment of now 
and powerful phases of mediumship. 

Tidings of this nature, however, were still more remarkable from the West, 
and even from California and the Pacific Islands. Visitors brought the 
assurance that circles for spirit communion were being held simultaneously 
with the meetings that were discussing the best means of reaching them 
in New York. Besides constituting a focal point, Avhere all the radiating 
lines of wide-spread interest could converge and be gathered up for future 
edification, several important modes of action were devised and executed 
by the good pioneers engaged in these New York Conferences. A circular 
was issued and sent to various parts of the country, calling for facts and 
requesting the narration of experiences in different States. The result of 
this wise measure was the accumulation of a vast amount of information, 
fonning an almost inexhaustible treasury for research in future time. 

A committee was drafted also to attend to the formation of circles in 
various parts of the city, which, being numbered and communicating v/ith the 
Conference or New York Circle as head centre, for a long time supplied a 
very satisfactory chain of telegraphic offices, whose records were full of in- 
teresting phenomena. 

The rapid progress of Spiritualism, and the privacy and reticence which has 
marked its reception in hundreds of families since the time of which we write, 
has completely outgrown the fostering care of a parent circle, the influence 
of which was only temporarily felt in the infancy of the movement. 

Another highly important step was taken when the conference came to 
the conclusion to represent their views in the most public and forcible manner 
possible through the rostrum. 

For this purpose the services of the Rev. S. B. Britain were secured, and 
a series of addresses commenced, the first of which was given at Hope 
Chapel, Broadway, on the evening of February 26th, 1852. From this time, 
with few interruptions. Spiritualism, its claims, facts, theories, and all its gen- 
eral features of interest, have been ably represented on New York platfonns 
on an average once in every Aveek, until regular Sunday services, morning 
and evening, and an afternoon conference, has placed it prominently before 
the New York public as a great religious no less than a reformatory and 
scientific movement. The most momentous result which the deliberations of 
the conference achieved, however, was the publication of a weekly journal, 
entitled the Spiritual Telegraph, which for a period of se-s^eral years formed 
one of the most complete and well-conducted records of the spiritual move- 
ment of which its literatTire can boast. 

It was started in the first place by the enterprise of Mr. Charles Partridge 
and Rev. S. B. Britain, who, with certain financial guarantees from many of 
the leadmg Spiritualists of the city, commenced their admirable and valuable 
serial on May 8th, 1852. 

The publication of this paper was an era in the history of New York 
Spiritualism from whence a stupendous impetus was derived. As its charac- 
ter and influence will be particularized in treating of the literature of Spirit- 
ualism, we need enter no further at present into the details of this important 
undertakmg. Several pamphlets of timely use and value in the early stages 
of the cause were published by aid of liberal subscriptions from the members 
of the conference. Amongst these was an excellent essay on circles by Mr. 
Flunt, and some ren:iarkabie communications from the spirit-world through 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 83 

the mediumship of Mr. Edward Fowler. Large issues of this pamphlet were 
made for gratuitous circulation. 

The conference also made large contributions towards the publication of 
many printed communications, which, at that particular stage of knowledge, 
or rather ignorance, on the subject of spirit-life and communion, became 
of great importance. Amongst these, we find printed for gratuitous circula- 
tion a number of communications purporting to come from spirits whose 
exalted names on earth Avere freely used as authority for the instructions con- 
veyed. They were given through the mediumship of Mr. Warren Boynton, of 
Waterford, New York, of whom Mr. King, a gentleman of good standing 
from the same place, gives the following sketch : 

** He [Mr. Boynton] , having sat in circles for spirit influence, found his hand automati- 
cally controlled to write whole pages of matter, the sentiment of which was often at total 
variance with his own opinions on religious subjects. Mr. Boynton was a devoted adherent 
to the tenets of the Wesleyan Methodists, and yet for many months he found himself im- 
pelled, under an influence he could not resist, to write sentiments whose broad liberality he 
knew to be inimical to the dogmas of his own creed, and, what was to him a still more 
perplexing act, to sign to many of the heretical papers he so bitterly condemned the 
honored name of the founder of Methodism, 'John Wesley' himself. Amongst these 
infidelic protests against his convictions was an essay, [which formed a part of the printed 
pamphlet above alluded to], commencing thus: ' Salvation is progression. Christ is a prin- 
ciple. Reason is a divine attribute of the soul. Nature is a book unfolding the wisdom 
and goodness- of the Deity,' etc. Before the publication of this pamphlet, however, Mr. 
Eoj'nton's convictions had become harmonized with those of his spiritual teachers, and to 
some extent in a feeling of disgust and revulsion produced by the action of his Christian 
instructors, who no sooner heard that he had become ' a spirit medium ' than they forth- 
with excommunicated him from their fellowship." 

It is proper here to remark that ecclesiastical thunder of this description 
was now becoming a very frequent resort for the purpose of quenching the 
spiritual lightning that preceded it ; but, as in the case of Mr. Boynton, it 
generally had the effect of stimulating the excommunicated to seek consola- 
tion in a more Christ-like, if not a Christian community, whilst its effect upon 
the world in general was precisely that which abuse or injustice ever pro- 
duces on the brave and true — namely, to arouse a spirit of indignant resist- 
ance which ended in making a hundred Spiritualists for every excommunicated 
Christian. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE — CO NTINUED . 

"The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it Cometh or whither it 
goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit." 

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and ye receive not 
our testimony." 

Spirit Autographs — Spiritual Literature — Judge Edmonds — The Early 
Investigators and their Treatment — Reaction — Margaretta Fox and 
HER Assailants — Governor Tallmadge and his Noble Testimony — Y. C. 
Calhoun as a Spirit. 

Amongst the most remarkable manifestations which were preserved in the 
archives of the New York Conference, none are more interesting than those 
which relate to the mediumship of Mr. Edward Fowler, the medical student 
to whom allusion has already been made. 



84 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

Besides the faculty of seeing and conversing intelligently with spirits, Mi. 
Powler's mind, being of a scientific cast, was frequently instructed through 
vivid pictorial imagery or direct communications with the methods adopted 
by spirits to effect their communion with mortals by means of raps, move- 
ments of bodies, entrancement, etc. Languages of the most unfamiUar 
nature, hyeroglyphical figures, and Oriental writings, were constantly found in 
his chamber inscribed on scraps of paper, vases, and other objects, under 
circumstances that rendered the action of human agency impossible. 

Many excellent and philosophical descriptions of spirit-life and teaching 
were written or spoken by him in the trance condition, some of which will be 
found under the head of " spiritual communications," but the one Avhich ex- 
cited the most interest at the time was a sentence of which a facsimile and 
brief account will be found in the subjoined extract from the Spiritual Tele- 
graph of 1852. 

It is proper to add that a number of the signatures were facsimiles of the 
hand-writing of private individuals of whose existence as spirits or mortals 
Mr. Fowler could have had no knowledge ; also that their relations — some 
of whom were members of the New York Circle — testified to the correct- 
ness of the signatures, and the perfect resemblance which each signature 
bore to that of the writers whilst on earth. 

The " sentiment " contained in the document was often referred to by 
Spiritualists during the late great American conflict, and its prophetic charac- 
ter as regards the issue of the war must not be overlooked : 

SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH — 1852.— NEW YORK. 
" Autographs of the Spirits. — Many of our readers are perhaps aware that among 
the Spiritual manifestations in this city have been a number of 7nystical manuscripts, mostly 
in foreign and ancient languages, and other documents to which the names of numerous in- 
dividuals who have left the earth have been signed. 

"These we have had engraved at great expense, and for the satisfaction of our readers 
we shall publish them in the Telegraph. We submit the following brief history of its 
origin : 

" ' At a regular meeting of a circle convened for spiritual intercourse at the residence of 
Charles Partridge, in New York, December nth, 185 1, the subject of Kossuth's mission to 
this country having been incidentally referred to, the spirits addressed the medium, E. P. 
Fowler, as follows : ' Edward, put a paper on your table and we will write a sentiment 
and subscribe our names, then you may all sign it too.' 

" ' In accordance with the above directions Edward placed a paper on his table in his 
sleeping-room, which was duly written upon in the course of the night and signed by forty- 
three spirits. It was subsequently signed by the members of the circle, but owing to the 
omission of the history and the irregular mode of affixing the signatures of the members, 
the spirits made the following communication at the succeeding regular meeting : ' Burn 
that, and we will write upon another.' 

" 'Accordingly, the first paper was destroyed, and a parchment was procured and placed 
on Edward's table on his retiring for the night. On the morning of the 23d of December, 
when the medium arose, he found the sentiment, '■Peace, but not without freedom,^ and 
the signatures, as here published, inscribed on the parchment. 

" ' At the meeting of the circle held on the 25th of December Dr. Hull asked the spirits 
whether each spirit executed his or her own name as they occurred on the parchment, when 
the spirits answered emphatically, ' Yes ! ' 

" ' We, the undersigned, believing that these are the signatures of the spirits themselves, 
and fully concurring in the sentiment expressed, hereunto af&x our names this 25th day of 
December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one : 

"'John GRAY, Edward P. Fowler, 

John F. Gray, M.D., William J. Baner, 

S. T. Fowler, Miss Almira L. Fowler, 

F. F. Carey, Mrs. S. A. Partridge, 

Mrs. Charlotte F. Wells, Almon Roff, 
Robert T. Shannon, Ward Cheney, 

Daniel Minthorn, Dr. R. T. Hallock, 

Charles Partridge, Mrs. Martha H. F. Baner. ' " 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 85 

About the year 185 1 New York Spiritualism received a great impulse 
from the fact that Mrs. Fish, the eldest of the Fox sisters, took up her resi- 
dence in the city, and opened rooms for public seances Avhich were ccnistantly 
thronged by eager and intelligent investigators. At this time also the 
Shckijiah, a fine literary monthly journal, devoted to the interests of Spirit- 
ualism, entered upon its second year of successful propagandism. 

Its talented editor, S. B. Britain, joined JNIr. Charles Partridge in the 
production of the Spiritual Telegraph, the first issue of which appeared ir^ 
JNIay, 1852. The Spiritual Afessenger, edited by R. P. Ambler and ApoUos 
Munn, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was already enjoying a wide circulation, 
and New England Spiritualism was further represented in Boston by the 
commencement of an excellent paper, conducted by the Rev. S. Crosby 
Hewitt, called the New Era. 

Even the far West was represented in this constellated mass of si^iritual 
journalism, as a large and ably-conducted paper was started in St. Louis, 
Alissouri, called Light from the Spirit World, which detailed the spread of 
"the cause" from the banks of the Hudson in the East, to the shores 
of the Mississippi in the Southwest. 

Besides the periodicals already named, there was a great-' mass of ephem- 
eral literature constantly issuing from the press, containing narratives of new 
and wonderful phenomena ; reports of lectures, circles, discussions, and also 
of conventions, the first of which, held at Cleveland, Ohio, was speedily 
followed by others in Boston, Worcester, and other parts of the country. 

Amongst the more important publications of this period were the works 
of A. J. Davis, which, besides "Nature's Divine Revelations" and tliree 
volumes of the " Great Hamronia," comprised a considerable number of 
tracts and widely-circulated pamphlets. A list of the spiritual publications 
in the New Era of November, 1852, announced as of recent date and 
American authorship, a volume of communications called " Light from the 
Spirit-World," received through the mediumship of Rev. C. Hammond, of 
Rochester; "The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Thomas Paine," from the same 
source; "Elements of Spiritual Philosophy," a finely-written and scholarly 
production by the Rev. R. P. Ambler, of Springfield, Massachusetts ; 
" Voices from the Spirit- World," by Isaac Post, medium, of Rochester; "The 
Clairvo)^ant Family Ph)'sician," by ]\Irs. Tuttle ; several pamphlets publi shed 
at Cincinnati, Rochester, and Auburn, giving a history of the manifestations 
up to that time ; " JNIodern Miracles," and other works, by S. B. Britain ; 
"The Spiritual Experiences of Mrs. Lorin L. Pl^tt, medium;" "Spirit 
Manifestations," by the Rev. Adin Ballou ; "The Microcosm and Macrocosm 
of the Universe," by the Rev. William Fishbough ; "Messages from the 
Superior State," by the Rev. John M. Spear; "The Spiritual Teacher," by 
the Rev. R. P. Ambler; "Supernal Theology," and "The Spiritual Instruc- 
tor," etc. All these works were produced during the first three years 
of the modern manifestations ; and that the shadowy side of the picture 
should not be wholly left to the uncandid coloring of the opposition, a 
publication, was issued, called The Mowitain Cove Journal, fuller notice of 
which will be given hereafter ; but as a specimen of human audacity, impiety, 
and egotism, this paper, though professedly indited by orders of " apostolic, 
angelic, and arch-angelic spirits," was only prevented from destroying Spirit- 
ualism by the transient nature of its existence and its very limited circulation. 

From the year 185 1, spiritual manifestations engaged the attention of 
Judge Edmonds, one of the ablest and most prominent legal men that has 
adorned the New York bar since America could boast of an hibcorical 



86 HISTORY OF MODERN 

record. Miss Laura Edmonds, a daughter of the Judge, also pursued her 
researches in the same direction, and became developed as an exxellcnt 
medium for trance speaking, the discerning of spirits, the gift of tongues, 
including several dead and living languages utterly unknov/n to herself, the 
ability to travel clairvoyantly to distant places, and communicate with absent 
friends by the mental telegraph. All these gifts Miss Edmonds nobly devoted, 
without money or price, without distinction of rank or fortune, to the service 
of the world; and as her seances were held in her father's private residence, 
amidst those surroundings of wealth and refinement Avhich rendered the 
suspicion of .complicity or fraud impossible, her influence upon the mindo of 
her vast throng of visitors can never be fully appreciated, until her own 
transfigured spirit shall stand face to face with the glorious host of enfran- 
chised souls who have wrought out their mission of revelation through thp' 
ministrations of this estimable lady. 

It cannot be supposed that a man of Judge Edmonds's distinguished posi- 
tion, could be long permitted to throw his powerful advocacy into the scale 
of an unpopular cause, without becoming a target for all the shafts of ridicule 
and mendacity which were being levelled against Spiritualism and its friends. 
Keenly must those shafts have rankled, aimed as they were at the man 
whom public opinion had before lauded to the skies, and promoted to the 
highest places of trust and honor ; but though the Judge must have suft'ered 
with all the acuteness of those finel)^-strung sensibilities which are at once 
the bane and blessing of rare genius, no expression of contempt or anger 
testified to his disdain of his mean and inconsistent assailants, until some 
two years of settled conviction had given him that impregnable anchor of 
truth to lean upon, from which he could afford to bear witness against human 
injustice and falsehood without fear lest his superstructure of metaphysical 
philosophy, based upon physical facts, should be injured by the fierce storms 
of public discussion in which he soon found himself compelled to take an 
active share. 

The legal acumen which had heretofore commanded the highest meed of 
public admiration, and the same amount of carefully-sifted evidence which 
he had been wont to gather up in the public service, he now hurled in thunder- 
bolts of proof for the despised truths of Spiritualism. 

In company with other gentlemen who became distinguished as advocates 
of Spiritualism, Judge Edmonds was actually pointed at in the streets "as a 
crazy Spiritualist." As believers in Spiritualism, himself and various mem- 
bers of the bar and medical profession were treated with contumely, and 
shouldered out of practice, office, and the good opinion of their fellow-men. 

Wealthy merchants like Mr. Charles Partridge were compelled to assert 
their claims to be considered sane, and maintain their commercial rights, by 
the most firm and determined action. Professional men and tradesmen 
were often reduced to the very verge of ruin by the evil reputation that clung 
around the dreaded name of " Spiritualist," and a relentless persecution, 
originated by the press, maintained by the pulpit, and stimulated to frenzy 
by the rank and number of the powerful adherents that began to swell its 
ranks, directed the full flow of its evil tides against " the cause " and its 
representatives. Many of the houses where circles v;ere being held wxre 
disturbed by crowds, who would gather together after night-fall, and Avith 
yells, cries, whistles, and occasionally with the breaking of windows by 
stones and other missiles, endeavor to molest the quiet investigators in their 
" unholy work of waking the dead" as one of the Brooklyn papers piously 
denominated the act of seeking for the "Ministry of Angels." 



AMERICAN, SPIRITUALISM. 87 

The principal leaders of the movement, no less than the mediums them- 
selves, were seriously obnoxious to this kind of rowdyism. 

The mediums, especially the ladies, were turned out of their offices and 
boarding-houses. Hotel-keepers often declined to receive them, and in the 
streets they were constantly subject to the most insulting and sometimes 
even threatening language. Their public meetings were disturbed, the char- 
acters of every person connected with the movement indiscriminately assailed ; 
the appearance of a Spiritualist in any public trial was the signal for immedi- 
ate decision against their side of the question, and their mere opinions in 
favor of the cause subjected them to inquisitorial persecutions, and the 
excomnumicating ban of the church to which they belonged. 

Those who have not endured the ordeal of this strange paroxysm of civil- 
ized barbarism could never imagine the pitch of injustice to which it was 
carried, nor the sufferings of the victims. 

It is a remarkable and significant token of "the retributive and compensa- 
tive power behind the throne," that nearly all who suffered in the first years 
of spiritual persecution, loss of fortune, practise, custom, or reputation, have 
experienced a reaction in their favor, which seems to proceed from an invol- 
untary appreciation, on the part of the public, of the superior intelligence 
wlrich some of the Spiritualists display. 

Thus, after Judge Edmonds, General Bullard, and other distinguished legal 
practitioners had been robbed of the well-earned laurels of an honored career 
at the bar, because, as Spiritualists, '■'■they must be insane;" whilst merchants 
who had long been esteemed as first on change and in the market were 
compelled to threaten legal prosecution, in order to obtain the erasure of 
the word " Spiritualist" labelled publicly against their names; after teachers 
had been ignominiously tlirust out of their places, operatives dismissed, and 
tradesmen almost reduced to ruin, a period of reaction came, when spirtual- v 
istic lawyers were found to be "possessed of sources of knowledge" which A 
rendered their services invaluable ; the most skilful doctors were found to 7 
be " those wonderful magnetic physicians," and the word " Spiritualism" 
began to be interpreted as a challenge to the world to expect superior excel- 
lence in art and science, wisdom in judgment, or success in commerce. 

But this happy revulsion of feeling was still but ]Dartial, and only became 
manifest at a late period of the movement. 

Its first initiatory steps necessarily demanded and obtained its martyrs, like 
every other great reform, which has had to march to its success over the 
conquered legions of ignorance, prejudice, and superstition. Even the suf- 
ferings endured by the Rochester mediums were not ended with the public 
inquisition at Corinthian Hall. 

Absurd and far-fetched theories were still put forth by so-called scientific 
men in their useless attempts to kill the hydra-headed monster through the 
original promoters of its notoriety, and their failure in so doing seemed to 
incite the opponents to a bitterness which found vent in forms of persecu- 
tion not always stopping short of peril to life itself, as will be shown in the 
follov\'ing case, one out of many similar annoyances that tracked the footsteps 
of the unfortunate mediums. 

When Miss JNIargaretta Fox visited the city of Troy, New York, in 1850, an 
evidently organized attempt was made on her life by a party whose agents 
consisted chiefly of a set of rough men, said to be Irish Catholics. 

After dogging her footsteps, trying under various pretexts to get admission 
to the house where she was holding circles, and seriously endangering the 
peace and safety of the family she was visiting by hurling stones and other 



88 HISTORY OF MODERN 

missiles against the windows, they proceeded to fire several shots at the 
house, which were no doubt aimed at Miss Fox. 

The circumstances of the case are best detailed in a letter written to a 
friend of the cause by Mr. Bouton, the gentleman at whose house Miss Fox 
was staying. A portion of that letter we subjoin, as follows : 

"West Troy, November 13, 1850. 

" We are endeavoring to make an arrangement for her [Margaretta] 

to go to another place. If she has mentioned the name to you, do not mention it to others, 
as you value her life. A deep plot is laid to destroy her. My house is beset every night by 
assassins after her, and we gviard her every moment. 

" We think, if we can place her where we wish to, she will be safe. I shall defend her and 
her reputation at the risk of my fortune and my life. I will advise you of our progi-ess. 
Suppress the name of the place if you can. I write with difficulty, not having rested for 
some nights. Five Irishmen, from some motive, are watching Margaretta. We have seen 
them all together. 

' ' She has never left my family without being attended, which has given them no opportu- 
nity yet. 

"In returning from Troy, late the night before last, with my family and Margaretta, in a 
coach, we came to the river and found no boat. Five Irishmen ti'led to persuade our driver 
to go to the long 'Troy bridge,' a glorious place for murder. We did not go, but they fol- 
lowed us hom.e, and, after we had retired, they attempted to break into the room occupied 
by Margaretta and my sister-in-law. 

" Tliey were furious on being foiled, and threw stones against the house. I have i:)repared 
means of defence, and caimot sleep much, and my family less. I fear they will return again 
to-night, but they will meet with a warm reception. 

"Last ni^lit Mrs. B. and Margaretta went to the door of a shed together, and a stone was 
thrown at them. One man on the roof made an angiy exclamation on finding that the tv/o 
were together, instead of Margaretta alone. They were large, stout men. " , 

A postscript to this letter, dated the next day, the 14th, says : 

" A.S I feared, the Irishmen did return last night, and threw a stone through the window, 
and broke into the house ; but we were prepared for them, and they did not effect anything. 
We would like to have you come here immediately, if you can." 

.The small party of " Irishmen" continued to increase until at last Mr. Bou- 
ton' s house was surrounded by a mob, and when Mrs. Fish, the elder sister, 
arrived on an imperative telegraphic summons from Rochester, she had to be 
escorted to her hotel by a party of brave and well-tried friends, in disguise. 

The ladies were finally conducted in safety atid secrecy to Albany, where a 
better and more genial reception awaited them, and then it was found that 
Catholics and Irish did not make up the bulk of the rude and jibing mobs 
that surrounded Mr. Bouton' s house, fired the shots, and threw stones at the 
windows, uttering meanwhile threats and imprecations agamst the "unholy 
witch v/oman within." 

Yet these very demonstrations it was that ultimately caused a strong and 
irresistible spirit of investigation in Troy, and ended in confirming the belief 
in that place to an extent which time and the mutations of public opinion 
elsewhere have never shaken. • Troy, in fact, is now oiie of the spiritual fort- 
resses of New York State. 

Similar results, but of far more striking and important character, grew out 
of the malevolent attacks that were levelled against Judge Edmonds. 

Some of these being circulated in the National IntcUigc7icei\ of Wash- 
ington, attracted the attention of the members of the Legislature, many of 
whom were warm friends and admirers of the Judge, and caused an eager 
interest in Spiritualism to arise in the very heart and focus of national in- 
fluence. Many excellent mediums were developed in the progress of the 
investigations that follovv-ed, and the visit of the Fox family completed die 
triumph of the cause in "Washington. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 89 

Amongst those who protested most justly and indignantly against the vitu- 
perative spirit in which the remarks of the Washington National Intelligencer 
denounced Judge Edmonds and his belief, was the Hon. N. P. Tallmadge, 
a distinguished! Senator, ex-Governor of Wisconsin, and a wami personal 
friend and colleague of the Judge. 

In a letter equally fearless and judicially acute, Governor Tallmadge wrote 
to the National IntelHgencc7-, indignantly repudiating his denunciations of the 
Spiritualists, of whom he proclaims himself to be one. He adds : 

"And, let me assure you, there are throughout this widely-extended countr}', some of 
the brightest and most exalted intellects, who have, from a thorough investigation of the 
matter, come to the same conclusion." 

In writing of Judge Edmonds he says : 

"I had heard for a long time of the 'Rochester knocldngs,' but had paid no heed to 
them ; on tlie contrary, had considered them a delusion which would soon pass away. I 
continued under these impressions till some time last spring [1S52], when my attention was 
called to a newspaper attack on Judge Edmonds for being a believer in these spiritual mani- 
festations. I had kno^vn Judge Edmonds for thirty 3'ears, had practiced law in the same 
courts, had served in the Senate of New York, and been associated with him as a member 
of the Court for the Correction of Errors, the highest court in the State ; had kno\\Ti 
him since that time as a Justice of the Supreme Court, and more recently as a Judge of the 
Court of Appeals, where he holds a deservedly high and distinguished rank amongst the able 
judges of that court, the last resort in the State of New Yoi-k. I also knew him as a gen- 
tleman of finished classical education, and as a lawyer of acute mind and decided talent for 
investigation ; and, above all, I knew him to be a man of unimpeachable integi'ity. Know- 
ing all these things, I concluded that if he had become a believer in ' spiritual manifesta- 
tions,' it was at least a subject worthy of investigation. " 

In connection with this letter Governor Tallmadge published several others, 
addressed to some of the most distinguished persons in the country, who 
were numbered amongst his intimate friends. As all of these were replete 
with incidents of the mosf*astounding character, their perusal excited the 
utmost interest and astonishment, especially when the unquestionable nature 
of the authority is considered from whence they emanated. Our space will 
only allow us to reproduce one or two of these narrations, for which purpose 
v\'e select, in the first instance, a published letter of Governor Tallmadge' s 
addressed to Mrs. Helen N. Whitman, the celebrated poetess of Rliode 
Island. 

This letter has already been published in substance, but the author prefers 
to quote from the manuscripts supplied by the honored writer himself, as, 
though occasionally varying in language, it is possible that the memoranda, 
made immediately after the manifestations were produced, may contain a truer 
transcript of the writer's feelings at the time of their reception than the entire 
letter as it was subsequently prepared for publication. 

"Baltimore, Ap-il 12, 1853. 
"Hon. N. P. Tallmadge to Mrs. Helen N. Whitman: 

" Dear Madam, — I seize a few moments whilst detained here to give you a more ex- 
tended account of the physical manifestations alluded to in a former letter. 

" In this account I shall confine myself to those which purport to come from the spirit 
of John C. Calhoun. I have received numerous communications from him from the time 
of my commencing this investigation. They have been received through rapping, writing, 

and speal.ing mediums, and are of the most extraordinary character After 

the arrival of the Misses Fox in Washington, in February last, I called on them by ap- 
pointment, and at once received a communication purporting to come from Calhoim. I then 
propounded mentally the following question : 



90 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

" ' Can you do anything to confirm me in the truth of these revelations, and remove fiom 
my mind all shadow of unbelief? ' 

' ' To which I received the following answer : 

" ' I will give you a communication on Monday, at seven and a half o'clock. Do not 
fail to be here. I will then give you an explanation. John C. Calhoun.' 

"I must here remarlv that «// the communications referred to in this letter were made 
through the alphabet ; every letter being rapped out, letter by letter, and taken down by me 
as received, until they spelled out words and sentences. 

" I called on Monday, as appointed, and received the following communication : 

" ' My friend, the question is often put to you, ' What good can result from these mani- 
festations ? ' I will answer. ' It is to draw mankind together in harmony, and convince 
sceptics of the immortality of the soul.' 

"I will here interrupt my narrative to remark that when in Bridgeport, in 1850, I re- 
ceived a communication through other mediums from a spirit purportmg to be W. E. 
Channing, which strongly reminds me of the above sentence. 

" In answer to the cpestion, ' What do spirits propose to accomplish by these manifesta- 
tions,' it was spelled out, 'To vmite inankind, and convince sceptics of the immortality of 
the soul.' 

"During the above communication, at Washington, the table was moved first one way 
and then the other, and when we all moved back, so that no one was touching it or within 
two feet of it, it moved — wholly without contact — some three or four feet, and then re- 
turned to its original position. This was repeated on the other side, and then one side of 
it was raised for a few moments and was again rested on the floor. Desirous to test its 
weight, it being a heavy dining table capable of seating some dozen persons, I placed my 
hands under the leaf and endeavored to raise it, but without succeeding in stirring it an 
inch. I then stood up and exerted all the force I was master of in vain. I requested the 
tlii^ee ladies to take hold and try all together to lift it. We lifted upon it until the top 
began to crack, but without raising it a particle. Perceiving that a spiritual force was 
being exerted to keep it down, I said : ' Will the spirits permit me to raise the table ? ' 

" I then took hold of it alone and raised it without the least effort. After this the follow- 
ing dialogue ensued : 

" Q. Can you raise the table entirely from the floor with me on it? A. Yes; get me 
the square table. The square table required was of cherry, with four legs — a large-sized 
tea-table. 

"Being brought out and the leaves raised I took my seat in the centre, the three ladies 
sitting at the sides with their hands and arms resting on it and thus adding to the two hun- 
dred pounds weight already on it. Two legs were first raised from the floor, then the other 
two to a level with the first, until the whole table was held suspended in the air about six 
inches from the floor. While thus seated on it, I could feel a gentle vibrating movement as 
if floating in the air. After being thus suspended for a few moments the table was gently 
set down again to the floor. 

"At a subsequent meeting, the spirit claiming to be my friend Calhoun directed me to 
bring — for the purpose of exhibiting physical signs of spirit-power — three bells and a 
guitar. These were accordingly procured, the bells being of different sizes, the largest a 
dinner-bell. A drawer was to be put under the table upside down, and the bells placed on 
the drawer. 

' ' The three ladies and myself then took our seats, leaning our hands and arms upon the 
table. The bells were played upon in a sort of melodious and rhythmical chime, whilst 
numerous raps were made, as if keeping time to a march. When the raps ceased the bells 
rang violently for several minutes ; they were also pressed on my feet and knocked most ve- 
hemently against the under side of the table, raising up the candlesticks by the concussion. 

"After the bells had ceased, I distinctly felt a hand gi'asping my foot, ankle, and knee, 
several times. I was then directed to place the guitar on the drawer. When all were seated 
as before, the guitar was at first touched softly and gently, giving forth sweet and delicious 
sounds like an accompaniment. Presently the tones grew louder and louder, and struck 
into a bold symphony. Then they diminished, becoming softer, sweeter, and almost dying 
away, as if at a long distance ; then they returned, increased in power, grew louder and 
nearer, and anon died away again in long, vibrating echoes of the most indescribable 
beauty and sweetness. 

"I have heard the guitar played by the most skilful and scientific hands, but I never 
could have conceived of that instrument being able to produce sounds of such marvellous 
and fascinating beauty, power, and even grandeur as this invisible performance that night 
executed. 

"After the music had ceased, it was spelled out by the raps, 'It was my hand that 
touched you aiid the guitar. Calhoun.' 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 91 

" The following phenomena occun-ed at my next sitting with the Misses Fox, there being 
then present General Hamilton, General Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina, and myself. 
We were directed to place the Bible, closed, on a di-awer under the table. It was a small 
pocket Bible in very fine print. 

" For some time numerous raps were heard beating time to a march that had been sug- 
gested. These raps died away like receding feet, until the sound entirely ceased, when 
other loud raps gave the signal for the alphabet, by which was spelled out the single word, 
*I^ook. ' I took up the book most carefully, finding it was open, and desirous to preserve 
the place. It was then spelled out, ' Read ' ; and the verses of the open chapter which it 
was desired I should read were also spelled out. During the reading loud and vehement 
rappings seemed to indorse the sentiments rehearsed with a power that was fearfully start- 
ling, as coming from an invisible source. 

"The book was open at St. John's Gospel, third chapter, and the verses indicated to be 
read were the 8, 11, 19, 34, and were as follows : 

" ' 8. The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence 
it cometh or whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the spirit.' 

" ' II. Verily, verily I say unto thee, we speak what we know and testify what we have 
seen, and ye receive not our testimony.' 

" ' 19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love 
darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. ' 

" ' 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God ; for God giveth not the 
spirit by measure.' 

" After this I was directed to place several sheets of letter-paper, together with a pencil, 
on the drawer beneath the table. We soon heard the sound of the pencil on the paper ; 
when it was rapped out, ' Get the pencil and sharpen it.' I looked under the table, but at 
first could not find the pencil until, on continuing my search, I found it lying three or four 
feet from the table with the lead broken off within the wood. 

" I sharpened it as directed and replaced it again upon the drawer. Again I heard the 
sound of the pencil, but when directed by the raps to take up the paper, we found it marked 
on each side, but no intelligible writmg could be found. By the raps, however, it was speUed 
out, — 

" ' The power is not strong enough to write a sentence, but I wish to convince you I can 
write. If you meet on Friday exactly at seven, I will try a short sentence. 

"'John C. Calhoun.' 

"We met pursuant to appointment, took our seats as usual, all our hands and arms 
resting on the table. I placed my silver pencil-case on the drawer beneath the table, and 
being in communication with the spirit of Calhoun through the raps, I said, ' My friend, I 
wish the sentence to be in your own handwriting, so that your friends will recognize it.' 
He replied, ' You will know the writing.' We soon heard a rapid movement of the pencil 
on the paper, the rustling of the latter, and the movement of the drawer. I was then 
directed to look under the drawer. I found my pencil outside the drawer, and all the 
sheets I had placed on the top now underneath it ; they were disarranged, and on the out- 
side sheet was written, ' I'm with you still.' 

"I have shown that sentence to General Hamilton, former Governor of South Carolina, 
General Waddy Thompson, late Mexican Minister ; Genei-al Robert Campbell, of Havana, 
together with many other intimate friends of Mr. Calhoun. I also showed it to one of his 
sons, and he, as well as the rest, pronounced it to be a perfect facsimile of the hand- 
writing of John C. Calhotm. General Hamilton and Mrs. General Macomb — both of 
whom are in possession of many private letters from Calhoun — state as a fact of peculiar 
significance, that he Vv^as constantly in the habit of abbreviating 'I am' into 'I'm,' hence 
this sentence, short as it is — I'm with you still — is peculiarly characteristic of his expression 
no less than his singularly terse style. 

'• Very truly yours, 

"N. P. Tallmadge." 

On this, as on other and constantly-recurring occasions, it has been re- 
marked that a communication so brief, pointless, and therefore so inconsistent 
with the character of a statesman as dignified and eloquent as the late John 
C. Calhoun, was either at variance with his earthly career or unworthy of his 
exalted spirit. To such arguments, let us apply the responses so often 
rendered by spirits on similar occasions. " The power by which spirits can 
act upon matter at all is limited, ill understood even by themselves, and at 
present in a merely experimental state of control ; hence the quantity and 



92 HISTORY OF MODERN 

power of the manifestations is determined by conditions too complex and 
subtle, and as yet too remote from the sphere of material science, for human 
comprehension. Moreover, every communication, howsoever transmitted 
through a human organism, partakes so closely of the idiosyncracies of the 
medium that whilst the idea may originate in the spirit-world, the form of 
the communication must assume the shape of the medium's mind and the 
measure of their force. Beyond the occasional introduction of a few words, 
sentences, or forms of writing and expression, it is almost impossible for the 
mightiest controlling spirit far to transcend these limits ; hence their ideas 
not only sink to the level of the medium's capacity in transmission, but often 
become so merged in their magnetism as to lose the stamp of their spiritual 
origin altogether. 

"The communion may grow into more-assured identity, and a better system 
of telegraphy may supervene when mortals industriously study the science of 
Spiritualism, and reverendly prepare themselves to honor it as a religio7i." 



CHAPTER X. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE— CONTINUED. 

" Stand for the right ! though falsehood rail 

And proud lips coldly sneer, 
A poisoned arrow cannot wound 

A conscience pure and clear. 

" Stand for the right ! and with clean hands 

Exalt the truth on high, 
Thou'lt find warm, sympathizing hearts 

Among the passers-by." 

Psalms of Life. 

Spiritualism Explained by Chauncy C. Burr — S. Grimes — Mr. Joel Tiffany 
— Leo Miller — Saul and Paul — Judge Edmonds's "Appeal to the Public" — 
The Press and their Change of Tone — Dr. Dexter — "The Sacred 
Circle." 

From the time when the truth of spirit communion with the earth became 
a fact so fixed that investigators could venture to call public attention to the 
subject with the most perfect confidence in the results, an infatuation 
appeared to have possessed certain individuals with little or no reason for 
their action, determinately to array themselves for a war of opposition, which 
they conducted with singular bitterness and indiscriminate rashness. 

Thus at Buffalo, New York, three gentlemen, whose position as leaders of 
science should have deterred them from the committal of their names to a 
pubhshed verdict of which subsequent events should have made them hear- 
tily ashamed, gravely rendered their testimony to the effect that the mani- 
festations produced through the Fox sisters v/ere all the result of the snapping 
of their knee and ankle joints ! 

The details of the notable theory announced by "the Buffalo doctors," 
together with all the physiological definitions involved in their astounding 
discovery, will be found in a subsequent chapter. It is only necessary to state 
here that like all similar attempts to explain away a substantial truth on vis- 
ionary grounds, the discussion to ivhich the afi'air gave rise served as ex- 
ceedingly valuable propaganda for the cause of Spiritualism. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 93 

The resort to deliberate falsehood on the ^.art of the professed mesmerist, 
Grimes, has already been noticed, and soon after the sage Buffalo doctors had 
assigned to knee and ankle joints the new function of producing the whole 
range of varied and intelligent spiritual phenomena, the ex-Rev. [?] C. 
Chauncy Burr took the field to expose the whole "trick" in several public 
lectures delivered at Hope Chapel, New York, and other places, in which 
all the former exploded theories were re-hashed, with the addition of several 
grave and utterly unfounded falsehoods. 

It would scarcely be in keeping with the spirit of serious narrative to recur 
to these pitiful arts, Avere it not advisable to note the flimsy and desperate 
character of the opposition. ,^ 

After making a livmg, such as it was, for a few weeks out of platform 
"expositions" of Spiritualism in various places, where himself and his confed- 
erates cracked out by their toe Joints, etc., names and sentences previously 
agreed upon ; after disgusting and disappointing even their best friends by the 
shallow character of their imposture, and subjecting themselves to far more 
bitter and contemptuous remarks from the press than had ever been levelled 
against the cause they sought to defame, Messrs Burr & Co. were finally 
prosecuted for slander by Mrs. Fish [Leah Fox], and in the encounter with 
that lady's lawyer — Mr. Joel Tiffany — lost even the rags of pubhc credit, 
wherewith they had been striving to clothe themselves as antagonists of Spir- 
itualism. It may here be mentioned that Mr. Joel Tiftany became so 
deeply interested in the manifestations through the Fox family that he not 
only undertook their defence against the slanders of Burr, but devoted his 
talents as an orator and writer to the advocacy of the cause. His lectures 
at the Spiritualists' Sabbath meetings, his pungent replies to the attacks of, 
the clergy and secular press, and his able conduct of one of the most popu- 
lar periodicals of spiritualistic literature — namely, Tiffany's Monthly Maga- 
zine" — entitle him to a foremost place amongst the ranks of spiritual celebrities, 
and challenge our gratitude even to the venomous Chauncy Burr, for first 
prominently identifying Mr. Tiffany with Spiritualism, in Cleveland, Ohio. 
Antagonists of a similar character to the above were multiplying on every 
side, encouraged by the unchristian ardor with which their juggling attempts 
Avere received by the clergy, many of the press, and a large proportion of the 
community. 

A young lawyer named Leo IMiller, who Avas stud3ang for the bar and anxious 
to fit himself for forensic display, determined to exercise his talents in a 
course of lectures through Ncav York AA'hich should enlist public interest in 
his favor, and ■ for this purpose he found no theme so generally acceptable 
as the announcement that he Avould "expose the pretended spiritual manifes- 
tations." 

For many Aveeks Mr. Leo Miller ran a most successful career in this direc- 
tion. His lectures Avere croAA^ded, his addresses lauded to the sicies by the 
press, AA^iile notices of his meetings A\'ere read from many of the popular pul- 
pits, and his handbills industriously circulated by the clerg}^ 

As Mr. Miller Avas an eloquent and attractive speaker, his services in con- 
ducting "the attack" in Central Ncav York AA^ere gladly accepted in lieu of 
the broken fragment of the Grimes and Burr forlorn hope. Unfortunately, 
hoAvever, for the peace of mind of his Christian supporters, Mr. Miller sud- 
denly became a " speaking medium." A spiritual trance overshadoAved him 
in one of his most poAA'^erful flights of defamatory oratory^, and Baalam-like, he 
AA'ho came to curse Israel AA^as compelled Avith umvilling lips to pronounce a 
blessing instead, and to pour forth prophetic assurances of the unconquerable 



94 



HISTORY OF 3I0DERN 



triumphs of the power he had hitherto assailed. Returning from his truly 
improvised lecture scarcely less confounded and dismayed than his audience, 
he retired to his couch to find himself serenaded by " raps," and assailed by 
voices of invisible beings who tenderly rebuked his past perversity, assured ' 
him of the consoling presence of loved and loving spirit friends, and urged 
upon him the solemn duty of going forth to atone for the errors he had com- 
mitted by proclaiming the irresistible truths of Spiritualism to the ends of the 
earth. In the midst of the perplexity which this overwhelming change occa- 
sioned in his mind, he received from a man of whose very name and exist- 
ence he had had no previous knowledge, an exquisite drawing of a female 
head, v/hich the stranger informed him had been executed whilst in a trance 
and blmdfolded. He — the artist — declared that he had no knowledge what- 
ever of who the lady was, or why it should be given to Mr. Miller, beyond 
the request of the spirit, whose portrait it was. 

Mr. Miller inquired the name of the artist, and learned that he was a Mr. 
Rogers, of Columbus, Ohio, a tailor by trade ; totally unacquainted with 
drawing ; an involuntary automatic medium for the production of spirit por- 
traits, hundreds of which had been eagerly claimed and recognized as beloved 
departed ones by their astonished relatives. 

In some instances, as in Mr. Miller's case, Mr. Rogers was instructed by 
the spirits to whom he should send or give the pictures, and it was under 
a charge of this kind that he had presented to Mr. Miller a drawing which 
the latter instantly recognized as the most inimitably faithful portrait of a 
beloved sister of whom there Avas no other likeness extant. It was impos- 
sible to mistake the resemblance ; the friends of the young lady, as well as 
her brother, at once perceived the correctness of the portrait, whilst the most 
careful inquiry into the circumstances of its production only strengthened 
the facts as detailed by the artist. 

Scores of similar cases, many of them far more marvellous than the above, 
were brought to Mr. Miller's notice in connection with this same artist, and 
the result was that Mr. Rogers became celebrated for his success as a 
delineator of the forms of the beloved inhabitants of the spirit country, and 
Mr. Leo Miller a renowned and powerful champion of the truths of spiritual 
existence, and communion with mortals. One of the chief results to ]\Ir. 
Miller in his capacity as a public speaker was the remarkable fact that 
within a few weeks from the time of his "change of base," his audience fell 
off in numbers about the ratio of ninety per cent.; whilst his revenue from 
this source of course endured a proportionate decrease. All this was more 
than compensated for, however, by the enthusiasm of the young orator's 
purpose, the joy of his heart, the peace of his conscience, and the manifest 
improvement of his style ; still, no sooner was it discovered that around his 
pathway hovered an angel sister, who by her pure and glorified influence 
made him a better and wiser man, than the pious withdrew their coun- 
tenance ; the press no longer advertised his lectures, or devoted a column's 
admiring criticism to "his able expose of spirit rapping;" and saddest of all, 
the clergy either forgot to announce his meetings and distribute his notices, 
or only remembered him in their sermons to cry "Maranatha," and warn all 
follovv'ers of Christ to shun the daring infidel who presumed to give the signs 
which their master had promised should follow those who believed in him. 

It was in the year 1853 that a course of virulent and scandalous attacks 
made upon Judge Edm.onds through the public press, determined him to 
resign the high oflice of Judge, Vv-hich he had so nobly and honorably filled to 
the satisfaction cf his fellow-citizens and the benefit of the commuhit}'-. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 95 

The incitements to this course of action are briefly stated in the simple yet 
dignified "'Appeal to the Public," which the learned gentleman published on 
the occasion. The mental trials which forced this statement from Judge 
Edmonds must necessarily have been very severe, but it is impossible that 
any one can peruse it without coming to the conclusion that "in the suffer- 
ings of the just, the world is made wise unto salvation," and that whatever 
may have been the inducing motive, the cause of justice and truth v/ere 
greatly benefitted by the publication of so noble and manly a document, and 
such a clear and succinct account of the aspect and status of Spiritualism 
at the date of the following "appeal : " 

^'To the Public: 

"On my recent return from an excursion into the countrj', I found that during my 
absence a decision lately pronounced by me had been seized upon as an occasion for an 
attaclc, in several quarters, on my religious belief. I was fully aware that that judgment, 
running counter as it would to popular sentiment, would subject my action to severe criti- 
cism ; but I confess, I did not anticipate that thence would flow an assault on my religious 
opinions. Were I a jDrivate citizen, I should content myself with merely claiming the right, 
which belongs to everyone in this country, of entertaining such faith on this — the most 
important of all topics — as my conscience might dictate. And as it is, I might perhaps 
rest satisfied with challenging those who assail me, to point out a single article in my creed 
that aims at aught else than exalted private worth and public virtue. But as the position 
v/liich I occupy renders the soundness as well as the integrity of my judgment a matter of 
public interest, I am bound to acknowledge the right of others to question my faith, and 
my own obligation to defend it. 

"I acknowledge a still further obligation. And inasmuch as I accepted my present 
position under the implied understanding, at least, that I believed in the Christian religion, 
and would administer our civil law according to the principles of the divine law, as it had 
been revealed to us, on which all our institutions were based, so I am bound to certify to 
those who have intrusted me with the divine attribute of administering justice among 
men, that my reverence for that revelation has not been shaken, nor my obedience to that 
moral law impaired. 

" I have not, however, waited for these assaults, to be impressed with these obligations, 
but have already so far felt them that I have prepared to publish a volume on the subject, 
which, but for my other avocations, Avould ere this have been in the printer's hands. To 
that I must refer for much in elucidation and proof of my belief, which the limits of this 
coiiimunication will not allow me to dwell upon, and content myself on this occasion with 
such general statements as may tend to give a correct idea of what it is that I believe or 
have done. Even this would not have been necessary if those who assail me had but 
done me the justice themselves to have published anything I have said or written on the 
subject. But hitherto I have been able to reach the public only through publications of 
very limited circulation ; and the wildest and most erroneous notions have therefore been 
imbibed as to my belief, and the mischief has been increased by the recklessness with v/hich • 
thosi erroneous statements have been fabricated by those who could not know them to be 
true, but who could easily have ascertained them to be false. 

" Thus one writer,* with a want of feeling not perhaps surprising, speaks of m}'- 'consult- 
ing my dead wife ' in making up my decisions. Another says, that it is ' rumored ' that 
I have consulted spirit manifestations in regard to my decisions. Another, that my belief is 
'at irreconcilable variance with all divine revelation,' and is 'fit for no other system than 
devil worship ;' and still another, that ' it constitutes an abandonment of all self-control, 
and a surrender of the supremacy of reason, as informed and enlightened by the senses, to 
the most nonsensical jugglery.' 

"All these statements are as wide as they can be of truth, and I might with some justice 
complain at being subjected to such gidevous imputations, merely because I had made a 
decision which was unacceptable to a portion of the community. 

" But it is not for the purpose of complaining that I sit down to write. I am aware that 
it is not so much me as it is the faith v/hich I profess, which is the object of attack. 

" It is ' the mighty theme, and not the inconsiderable advocate,' which offends. I am also 
aware why it is that so much error exists in the public mind on that subject ; and my v/hole 
purpose is, so far as I am concerned, to coiTCct that error ; to state truly, as far as I can in 



* Daily C'ironicle, of New London. 



96 



HISTORY OF MODERN 



this connection, what it is that I do believe, and generally the grounds on which my belief 
is founded, that all who take interest in the matter to read what I may say, may liave tlie 
means of judging for themselves as to what I really do believe, rather than wiiat others 
erroneously impute to me as a belief. 

" I am sincerely gi-ateful to my assailants for not imputing to me any unworthy or selfish 
motives, for concedmg that as a private citizen I 'stand exempt from public criticism,' 
and that I am 'not a fool,' and for confining themselves to the mere imputatirn that I 
am laboring under a delusion. It is, therefore, to that point I shall confine myself in what 
I have now to say. 

"It was in January, 1851, that my attentions was first called to the subject of 'spiritual 
intercourse.' I was at the time withdrawn from general society. I was laboring under 
gi-eat depression of spirits. I was occupying all my leisure in reading on the subject of death 
and man's existence afterwards. 

" I had in the course of my life read and heard from the pulpit so many contradictory and 
conflicting doctrines on the subject, that I hardly knew what to believe. I could not, if I 
would, believe what I did not understand, and was anxiously seeking to know if after death 
we should again meet with those whom we had loved here, and mider what circum- 
stances. 

"I was invited by a friend to witness the ' Rochester knockings.' I complied, chiefly to 
oblige her and to while away a tedious hour. I thought a good deal on v/hat I witnessed, 
and I determined to investigate the matter and find out what it was. If it was a deception, 
or a delusion, I thought that I could detect it. For about four months I devoted at least 
two evenings in a week, and sometimes more, to witnessing the phenomena in all its phases. 
I kept careful records of all I witnessed, and from time to time compared them with each 
other, to detect inconsistencies and contradictions. I read all I could lay my hands on, on 
the subject, and especially all the professed 'exposures of the humbug.' 

"I went from place to place, seeing different mediums, meeting with different parties of 
persons ; often with persons whom I had never seen before, and sometimes where I was 
myself entirely unknown ; sometimes in the dark and sometimes in the light ; often with 
inveterate unbelievers, and more frequently with zealous believers. In fine, I availed my- 
self of every opportunity that was afforded, thoroughly to sift the matter to the bottom. I 
was all this time an unbeliever, and tried the patience of believers sorely by my scepticism, 
my captiousness, and my obdurate refusal to yield my belief. 

" I saw aroimd me some who yielded a ready faith on one or two sittings only ; others again 
under the same circumstances, avowing a determined unbelief; and some who refused to 
witness it at all, and yet were confirmed unbelievers. I could not imitate either of these 
parties, and refused to yield imless upon most irrefragible testimony. At length the evi- 
dence came, and in such force that no sane man could withhold his faith. 

■ " Thus far the question I was investigating was, whether what I saw was produced by mere 
mortal means, or by some invisible, unknown agency ; in other words, whether it was a 
deception, an imposition, or what it professed to be — the product of some unknown, unseen 
cauSe. To detail what I witnessed would far exceed the limits of this communication, for 
my records of it for those four months alone fill at least one hundred and thirty closely 
written pages. I will, however, mention a few things, which will give a general idea of that 
which characterized interviews now numbering several hundred. Most of them have occur- 
red in the presence of others besides myself. I have preserved their names in my records, 
but do not give them to the world, because I do not desire to subject them to the obloquy 
which seems, most strangely, to be visited upon all who look into the matter with any other 
feeling than a resolute and obstinate incredulity, whatever the evidence. But these consider- 
ations grow out of this fact : first, that I haVe thus very many witnesses, whom I can invoke 
to establish the truth of my statements ; and second, that if 1 have been deluded and have not 
seen and heard what I think I liave, my delusion has been shared by many as shrewd, as 
intelligent, as honest, and as enlightened people, as are to be found anywhere among us. 

"My attention was first drawn to the intercourse by the rappings, then the most common, 
but now the most inconsiderable mode of communing. Of course I was on the look-out 
for deception, and at first relied upon my senses and the conclusions which my reason might 
draw from their evidence. But I Was at a loss to tell how the mediums could cause what I 
witnessed under these circumstances : the mediums walking the length of a suite of parlors 
forty or fifty feet, and the rappings being distinctly heard five or six feet behind them, the 
whole distance, backward and forward, several times ; being heard near the top of a mahog- 
any door, above where the mediums could reach, and as it struck hard with a fist ; being 
heard on the bottom of a car when travelling on a railroad, and on the floor and the table, 
when seated at lunch, at an eating-house, by the side of the road; being heard at different 
parts of the room, sometimes several feet distant from the medium and where she could not 
i-each; sometimes on the table and immediately after on the floor, and then at different parts 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 97 

of the table, in rapid succession, enabling us to feel the vibration as well as hear the 
sounds ; sometimes, when the hands and feet of the medium were both firmly and carefully- 
held by some one of the party, and sometimes on a table when no one touched it. 

"After depending upon my senses as to these various phases of the phenomena, I 
invoked the aid of science, and with the assistance of an accomplished electrician and his 
machinery, and eight or ten intelligent, educated, shrewd persons, examined the matter. 
We pursued our inquiries many days, and established to our satisfaction two things : first, 
that the sounds were not produced by the agency of any person present or near us ; and, 
second, that they were not forthcoming at our will and pleasure. 

"In the meantime another feature attracted my attention, and that v/as 'physical mani- 
festations,' as they are termed. Thus, I have known a pine table with four legs lifted 
bodily up from the floor in the centre of a circle of six or eight persons, turned upside do-\vn 
and laid upon its top at our feet, then lifted up over our heads and put leaning against the 
back of the sofa on which we sat. I have knowai that same table to be lifted up on two 
legs, its top at an angle with the floor of forty-five degrees, when it neither fell over of 
itself, nor could any person present put it back on its four legs. I have seen a mahogany 
table, having only a centre leg, and with a lamp burning upon it, lifted from the floor at 
least a foot, in spite of the efforts of those present, and shaken backward and forward as 
one would shake a goblet in his hand, and the lamp retam its place though its glass pen- 
dants rang again. 

"I have seen the table tipped up with the lamp upon it so far that the lamp must have 
fallen off unless retained there by something else than its own gi-avity, yet it fell not, moved 
not. I have known a dinner-bell taken from a high shelf in a closet, rung over the heads of 
four or five persons in that closet, then rung around the room over the heads of twelve or 
fifteen persons in the back parlor, and then borne through the folding doors to the further 
end of the front parlor, and there dropped on the floor. I have frequently known persons 
pulled about with a force which it was impossible for them to resist, and once, when all my 
own strength was added in vain to that of the one thus affected. I have known a ma- 
hogany chair thrown on its side and moved swiftly back and forth on the floor, no one 
touching it, through a room where there were at least a dozen people sitting, yet no one 
was touched, and it Avas repeatedly stopped within a few inches of me, when it was coming 
with a violence which, if not arrested, must have broken my legs. 

" This is not a tithe — nay, not a hundredth part of what I have witnessed of the same 
character, but it is enough to show the general nature of what was before me. 

"At the same time I have heard from others, whose testimony would be credited in any 
human transaction, and which I could not permit myself to disregard, accounts of still more 
extraordinary transactions, for I have been by no means so much favored in this respect as 
some. 

' ' While these things were going on there appeared in the newspapers various explana- 
tions and ' exposm-es of the humbug,' as they were tei'med. I read them with care, in 
the expectation of being assisted in my researches, and I could not but smile at once at the 
rashness and the futility of the explanations. For instance, while certain learned pro- 
fessors in Buffalo were congratulating themselves on having detected it in the toe and knee- 
joints, the manifestations in this city changed to ringing a bell placed under the table. They 
were like the solution lately given by a learned professor in England, who attributes the 
tipping of tables to a force in the hands which are laid upon it, overlooking the material 
fact that tables quite as frequently move when there is no hand upon them. 

" What I have tluis mentioned has happened in the presence of others as well as myself. 
I have not alluded to any of the things which have occurred to me when I have been alone, 
for as that would depend upon my testimony only, I have preferred not to subject my 
veracity to the i-ash and reckless contradictions of those who venture to denounce as an 
'atrocious imposture' that of which they are profoundly ignorant, and which has been 
examined and is believed in by thousands and tens of thousands of their fellow-citizens, 
who are, to say the least, every whit as honest and as intelligent as they are ; nor am L 
very anxious to submit my faith to the judgment of those Avho would have persecuted. 
Galileo nigh unto death for discovering our planetary system, and have united in the cry of 
'folly' at Fulton's steamboat, 'humbug' at Morse's telegraph, and 'insanity' at Gray's 
iron road. 

" Having thus by a long series of patient inquiries satisfied myself on this point, my next 
inquiry was. Whence comes the intelligence there is behind it all ? For that mtelligence 
was a remarkable feature of the phenomena. 

"Thus I have frequently known mental questions answered — that is, questions merely 
framed in the mind of the interrogator, and not revealed by him or known to others. 
Preparatory to meeting a circle I have sat dovra alone in my room and carefully prepared 
7 



98 HISTORY OF MODERN 

a series of questions to be propounded, and I have been surprised to find my questions aii- 
swered, and in the precise order in which I made them, without my even taking my mem- 
orandum out of my pocket, and when I knew that not a person present even knew that I 
had prepared questions, much less what they were. My most secret thoughts, those which 
I have never uttered to mortal man or woman, have been freely spoken, too, as if I had 
uttered them. Purposes which I have privily entertained have been publicly revealed ; and 
I have once and again been admonished that my every thought was known to and could 
be disclosed by the intelligence which was thus manifesting itself. 

" I have heard the mediums use Greek, Latin, Spanish, and French words, when I knew 
they had no knowledge of any language but their own ; and it is a fact that can be attested 
to by many, that often there has been speaking and writing in foreign languages and un- 
kno^vn tongues by those who were unacquainted with either. 

" Still the question occurred. May not all this have been, by some mysterious operation, 
the mere reflex of the mind of some one present ? The answer was that facts were com- 
municated which were unknown then, but afterwards found to be true ; like this, for in- 
stance : when I was absent last winter in Central America my friends in town heard of my 
whereabouts and of the state of my health seven times; and on my return, by comparing 
their information with the entries in my journal, it %vas found to be invariably correct. So 
in my recent visit to the West, my whereabouts and my condition were told to a medium 
in this city while I was travelling on the railroad between Cleveland and Toledo. So 
thoughts have been uttered on subjects not then in my mind, and utterly at variance with 
my o\vn notions. This has often happened to me and to others so as fully to establish the 
fact that it was not our minds that gave birth to or effected the communication. 

" Kindred to this are two well-authenticated cases of persons who can read the thoughts 
of others in their minds. One is an artist of this city, of high reputation ; and the other 
the editor of a newspaper in a neighboring city. The latter wrote me that in company 
with three friends he had tried the experiment, and for over forty successive attempts found 
he could read the secret tiioughts of his companions as soon as they were formed, and with- 
out their being uttered. So, too, there is the instance of two persons, one of them also 
resident in this city, who can give a faithful delineation of the character, and even the 
prevailing mood of mind of any person, however unknown to them, upon whom they fix 
their attention. 

"These are not apocryphal cases ; the parties are at hand, and in our very midst, and 
any person that pleases may make the investigation, as I have, and satisfy himself 

" But all this, and much, very much more of a cognate nature, went to show me that 
there was a high order of intelligence involved in this new phenomenon — an intelli- 
gence outside of, and beyond, mere mortal agency; for there was no other hypothesis 
which I could devise or hear of, that could at all explain that, whose reality is established 
by the testimony of tens of thousands, and can easily be ascertained by any one who will 
take the trouble to inquire. 

"If these two points were established — and there are now in these United States 
hundreds of thousands of sentient beings who have investigated and believe they are — then 
came this important question, cui bono — to what end is it all? For what purpose? 
With what object ? 

"To that inquiry I have dii-ected my earnest attention, devoting to the task, for over 
two years, all the leisure I could command, and increasing that leisure as far as I could by 
withdrawing myself from all my former recreations. I have gone from circle to circle, 
from medium to medium, seeking knowledge on the subject wherever I could obtain it, 
either from books or from observation, and bringing to bear upon it whatever of intelli- 
gence I have been gifted with by nature, sharpened and improved by over thirty years' 
practice at the bar, in the legislature, and on the bench. 

"I found there were very many ways in which this unseen intelligence communed with 
us, besides the rappings and table tippings, and that through those other modes there 
came very many communications distinguished for their eloquence, their high oi'dcr of 
intellect, and their pure and lofty moral tone. At the same time I discovered many incon- 
sistencies and contradictions that were calculated to mislead ; I ' saw many puerile and 
some very absurd statements, and many that were admirably calculated to make man 
better and happier, and I set to work to see if I could not, out of this chaos, gather some- 
thing that might be valuable. 

"I was satisfied that something more was intended than the gratification of an idle 
curiosity; something more than pandering to a diseased appetite for the marvellous; some- 
thing more than the promulgation of oracular platitudes; something more than upsetting 
material objects to the admiration of the wonder-lover; something more than telling the 
age of the living or the dead, etc. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 99 

" For tint something I have industriously searched. I thought that was wiser than to 
condemn without investigation, and denounce without knowledge. What I have dis- 
covered in that regard I have intended to give to the world, that all may judge for them- 
selves whether there is anything in it worthy the attention of intelligent beings. It would 
have been done ere this if my leisure would have allowed me time to prepare my manu- 
script for the press. Now I expect that my book will be published by the first of Sep- 
tember, and to that I refer, as I have already said, for particulars 

"I went into the investigation originally thinking it a deception, and intending to make 
public my exposure of it. Having, from my researches, come to a different conclusion, 1 
feel that the obligation to make known the result is just as strong. Therefore it is, mainly, 
that I give the result to the world. I say mainly, because there is another consideration 
which influences me ; and that is the desire to extend to others a knowledge which 1 am 
conscious can not but make them happier and better. 

"If those who doubt this could but spend a few days with me in my library, and witness 
the calls I have from strangers from all parts of the country ; if they could but look over 
my portfolio, and read the letters which pour in upon me from all sections, and from 
persons whom I have never seen, and never may see, they would be able, from the evidence 
thus furnished of the good that has been done, to form some idea of what may yet be 
accomplished ; and they would not wonder that I find a compensation for the obloquy 
that is so freely heaped upon me by the ignorant, in the gi-ateful outpourings of hearts 
which have, by my means, been relieved. One of them says [and it is a fair specimen of 
the whole] 'you have acted the part of the good Samaritan, and poured oil into the 
wound of one like to die, and you will have rendered a death-bed, sooner or latei-, calm 
and hopeful, which might have been disturbed by doubts.' 

"This, then, is the offence for which I am arraigned at the bar of the public with so 
imsparing a condemnation, declared unworthy of my high office, falsely accused of con- 
sulting aught else than the law of the land and my owai reason in the judgments which I 
officially pronounce, and have had invoked against me ' the fires of Smithfield and the 
hangings of Salem.' From such a condemnation it is that I appeal to the calm, unbiased 
judgment of my countrymen, with a firm reliance upon its justice. 

"J. W. Edmonds. 

"New York, August i, 1S53." 

One result of Judge Edmonds's appearance in public as defe?idant against 
the reckless attacks of his adversaries, was a change of tone in th^ press, 
Avhich, though strongly confirmatory of his triumphant position, is nevertheless 
characteristic of the truth of an old proverb which suggests a close alliance 
between the bully and the coward. The following extracts will suffice to 
justify this insinuation : 

From the Neiv York Coicrier. 

" The letter from Judge Edmonds, published by us on Saturday, with regard to the so- 
called spiritual manifestations, coming as it did from an eminent jurist, a man remarkable 
for his clear common-sense in the practical affairs of life, and a gentleman of irreproachable 
character, arrested the attention of the community, and is regarded by many persons as one' 
of the most i^emarkable documents of the day. Judge Edmonds has at least shown that he 
does not shrink from a full mvestigation of his case ; and his error is, perhaps, upon the 
right side, under the circumstances 

"With regard to the extraordinary phenomena which Judge Edmonds testifies to, as 
having occurred in his presence, it is worthy of note that others far more incredible are tes- 
tified to by other persons equally eminent with himself. We have the word of a gentleman 
of acknowledged high social and professional position, one whose bare word on any other 
subject we would receive without question, that he saw a man carried through the air for 
seventy feet at the height of three yards, although no one touched him or brought any 
mechanical power to bear on him. The story is entitled to exactly the same faith which is 
due to those of Judge Edmonds; no less, and no more." 

The Evening Mb'ror remarks : 

"John W. Edmonds, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for this District, is an able 
lawyer, an industrious judge, and a good citizen. For the last eight years, occupying with- 
out interruption the liightest judicial stations, whatever may be his faults, no one can 



loo HISTORY OF MODERN 

justly accuse him of a lack of ability, industry, honesty, or fearlessness. No one can doubt 
his general saneness, or can believe for a moment that the ordinary operations of his mind 
are not as rapid, accurate, and reliable as ever. Both by the practitioners and suitors at 
his bar, he is recognized as the head, in fact and in merit, of the Supreme Court for this 
District." 

After reviewing that portion of the letter in which Judge Edmonds records 
the experiences which led him to embrace the spiritual faith, the Mir?'or 
remarks : 

"Judge Edmonds, with characteristic energy, has not been silent on the subject of his 
recently-formed opinions. He has repeatedly published his experiences in some of the 
periodicals devoted to the new faith, and several of his articles were copied extensively by 
the daily press. Of course, these have furnished food for those editors who prowl about 
in search of a paragraph or a satire, and have afforded a target for many blunt but not 
inocuous arrows." 

It may be unjust to hold the individual members of the press responsible 
for the tone assumed by the majority, but the organization of that mighty body 
in America no more admits of these nice distinctions than the case of Judge 
Edmonds, and the circumstances cited above, can be considered apart from 
the gigantic movement of which this distinguished jurist was but an integral 
part. Judge Edmonds himself defines the truth of this position when he says, 
" I am aware that it is not so much me as the faith which I profess, which is 
the object of attack. It is the mighty theme, and not the inconsiderable ad- 
vocate, which offends." 

It has been the general tone of the press, as a body — not the opinion of its 
individual members, hundreds of whom are devoted Spiritualists — which makes 
its insolent, profane, and persistent persecution of Spiritualism a subject of 
equal surprise and discredit. 

In 1852, Judge Edmonds formed the acquaintance of Dr. Dexter, who 
with his' two young daughters of the respective ages of nine and fourteen, had 
become developed, by sitting in a family circle, as excellent mediums. In 
company with Dr. and Mrs. Dexter, Mr. Owen G. Warren, the author of 
"Supernal Theology," and Mr. and Mrs. Sweet, the latter a medium of the 
highest intellectual nature. Judge Edmonds formed a circle the result of 
which was a series of communications, chiefly written through the hand of Dr. 
Dexter, or spoken by Mrs. Sweet and written down by the Judge in short- 
hand, which he gave to the world in September, 1853, under the title of 
"Spiritualism, by Judge Edmonds and Dr. Dexter." 

A second volume, differing somewhat in character and style from the first, 
was published by Judge Edmonds and Dr. Dexter in the following year — 
namely, 1854. The changes manifest in this work are attributed by the 
Judge, in his preface, to the addition of Miss Laura Edmonds, and Miss Keyes, 
her cousin, to the circle of mediums, besides aid received from Mrs. A. T. 
Hall and Mrs. Helen Leeds, mediums of Boston. As these productions have 
been long and widely circulated amongst the American public, it is needless 
to make any other comment upon them than to record the profound impres- 
sions which their issue from such a distinguished source created, and to add 
the fact that the press and pulpit found in garbled extracts from their pages 
all the fresh food for ribaldry and insult which the literary and Christian spirit 
of these two potential leaders of public opinion could demand. 



AMERICA!^ SPIRITUALISM. loi 

CHAPTER XI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND ST ATE — C ONTINUEH. 

"It is a fa!th sublime and pure. 
That ever round our head 
Are hovering on noiseless wing 
The spirits of the dead. 

"It is a beautiful belief. 

When ended our career 
That it will be our ministry 
To watch o'er others here." 

J. H. Perkins. 

Character of the Phenomena — Statistics of Spiritualism in 1853-4-5— 
Mediums in New York — Speaking with new Tongues — Spirit Portraits 
— Floating IN THE Air — Mrs. Mettler — Correspondence — Mrs. Whitman 
AND Senator Simmons — Rev. C. Hammond — The Ring Experiment in 
Washington, 

Before proceeding with the historical course of SpirituaHsm in New York 
it would be well to review the character of the manifestations which had 
during five years only, grown out of the first simple raps that awakened the 
inhabitants of the humble "spirit house" at Hydesville to the conscious 
presence of disembodied human souls. By a reference to the admirable 
compendium of Spiritualism in 1853, as detailed by Judge Edmonds in his 
"appeal," given in the last chapter, the character and standing of the 
personages interested in the cause may be understood, together with the 
nature of the phenomena which was most operative at that time. It was 
roughly estimated by Mr. N. P. Willis, editor of the Home Journal — 
himself an interested investigator — that the number of Spiritualists in New 
York City could not be less than forty thousand; the magnetic circles held 
at this time about three hundred; in Brooklyn and Williamsburgh at least 
twice that number ; whilst several thousand mediumistic persons, over twenty 
public test mediums, and at least a hundred clairvoyant and medical mediums 
could be found in and about the city through whom strangers could acquaint 
themselves with the phenomenal facts then transpiring. Besides the ordinary 
phases of rapping, the movement of conderable bodies, and the production 
of many varied and wonderful feats of power, spirits aflbrded the most 
striking proofs of supra-mundane intelligence. 

Hundreds of mediums were astounding the world by speaking fluently 
in many tongues, of which they had no previous knowledge. 

In New York, Miss Laura Edmonds conversed fluently, when under 
special influences of that kind, in Greek, Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, 
Hungarian, and several Indian dialects ; her only branches of lingual 
education having been English and French. Miss Jenny Keyes was influenced 
to sing in Italian and Spanish. Mrs. Shepherd, Mrs. Gilbert Sweet, Miss 
Inman, Mrs. Tucker, Miss Susan Lloyt, A. D. Ruggles, and several others 
whose names we are not privileged to give, all residents of New York, spoke 
frequently, under influence, in Spanish, Danish, Italian, Hebrew, Greek, 
Malay, Chinese, and Indian. 

Of Mr. Edward Fowler's writings in Oriental languages we have already 
spoken. They were often submitted to eminent scholars, amongst others to 
the learned Professor Bush, of New York, and pronounced to be pure Hebrew, 
Greek, Sanscrit, etc. ; Mr. Fowler being, according to the testimony of Iiis 



I02 HISTORY OF JMODERlSr 

friends and family, utterly incapable of writing, speaking, or comprehending 
any of the languages in which these communications were given. On one 
occasion Professor Bush being present with Mr. Fowler and desirous to 
test the possibiUty of communicating in Hebrew through the raps, called the 
alphabet in that language, and received highly satisfactory answers which he 
afterwards translated, bearing testimony to the indisputable test character of 
the communication, and its purity and correctness of orthography. The 
value of the gift of tongues may be estimated from the recital of an incident 
that occurred in the experience of the late celebrated agricultural chemist, 
Professor Mapes, who vouched for the verity of the statement. A medium 
of great phenomenal powers — whose name we are forbidden to mention — 
was one day influenced to go into the streets in company with Mr. Henry 
Vail, a pupil of Professor Mapes, when she was accosted by a miserable- 
looking woman, who addressed her in a foreign language. 

The medium, who was an uneducated person, was immediately controlled 
to answer the stranger intelligibly, and under an irresistible spirit influence, 
was led into a low quarter of the town, where she found fourteen Italians 
crowded together in one room, in a state of deplorable destitution and 
sickness, but unable, from their ignorance of the English language, to make 
their necessities known. 

The medium conversed with them fluently, administered to their relief, 
and prescribed clairvoyantly and in their own language for the sick amongst 
them. 

Governor Tallmadge, the Honorable J. M. Giddings, and many prominent 
New York Spiritualists, have testified to numerous cases of a similar nature, 
in v/hich the same medium, besides performing vv'onderful cures through 
clairvoyant agency, conversed with poor strangers in the streets in various 
foreign languages, she being, from defective education scarcely mistress of 
her own. 

The above incident will remind many New York Spiritualists of a person 
who for years Avas famous amongst them as one of the most remarkable 
mediums of the age, but whose name — on her oitm solemn charge — will find 
no record in these pages. We must here add that, actuated by different 
motives from the party above alluded to, and we regret to say, most com- 
monly from the unworthy one of fear of public, opinion thousands of the 
most striking proofs of spiritual communion are suppressed, because the 
parties concerned refuse their names or other tokens of authenticity 
absolutely indispensable to the plan of this work. 

Amongst other varieties of phenomena was the production of magnetized 
water, by which many sick persons v/ere cured, and the changing of the 
color of the water whilst enclosed in tightly-corked and sealed bottles. The 
following extract is a sj)ecimen of the latter phenomena : 

" Mr. S. B. Britain : Dear Sir, — The cause of Spiritualism in this vicinity is moving 
forward, regardless of the opposition which it meets on various hands, though mostly from 
the Church. We have all kinds of manifestations, such as are common in the East with 
you ; but the newest are the spirit lights and the coloring of water. The lights are seen 
by all present in different parts of the room. But lately the medium was directed to take 
a bottle and fill it half full of water, and cork the same tightly, when the spirits promised 
to appear in it. This has been done, and the light appeared so bright that objects in the 
room could be distinctly seen. The bottle was passed around the circle, and all saw and 
handled it. 

" The water is placed in a bottle and left on a table from five to fifteen minutes, when it 
is changed to any color desired. These things are being constantly witnessed in this vicin- 
ity. I saw them myself last evening in a crowded circle. They can be attested by humlreds. 
Water was changed to various colors; and when a sceptical lady present requested that it 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 103 

be colored red, it was instantly done, and afterwards, by request, it was turned to a pale 
yellow. The orthodox folks have called it 'humbug,' 'collusion,' 'magnetism,' and various 
other things, till they are headed in them all, and now they cry, lastly, that it is ' the 
devil.'' 

" We have all kinds of media here, but these last manifestations are produced through a 
gentleman who is quite unlearned. He has submitted to the most rigid examination, and 
the people are satisfied that he is not in possession of any art by which to produce these 
things. 

"Yours for philosophical truth, 

"E. P. Wilson. 

"Farmington, Fulton County, Illinois." 

About this time the papers began to circulate tidings of the most astound- 
ing phenomena occurring in Athens County, Ohio, in the family of Mr. Koons, 
who had built a " spirit room" in the woods to facilitate the performances of 
" tlie invisibles." 

Without anticipating details which belong to a separate notice, it may be 
mentioned that the spirits commenced, through the mediumship of the Koons 
family, to perform upon many instruments in concert, and through a speaking 
trumpet actually dictated a small volume of communications, and drew dia- 
grams of the spheres and other remarkable details of the unknown country 
which they claimed to inhabit. • 

In Columbus, Ohio, Messrs. George Walocutt and Rogers — the medium 
who was instrumental in the conversion of Leo Miller — were convincing 
sceptics by hundreds through their astounding gifts of spirit painting, repro- 
ducing faithful portraitures of deceased persons wholly unknown to them, and 
often sending them to strangers at distant places under spirit direction. 

To increase the mar\-el of these productions, they were mostly drawn either 
in darkened apartments, or when the mediums were blindfolded and sur- 
rounded by crowds of carping sceptics. In Springfield and Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, D. D. Home — aftervvards renowned for his extraordinary mediumistic 
gifts throughout the courts of Europe — Henry C. Gordon, George Redman, 
and RoUin Squire, were all developed for physical manifestations of the most 
wonderful character. 

These young men were frequently lifted up in the air and floated over 
several feet of eround in the presence of hundreds of vvitnesses. 

Notices of these performances were freely circulated in the secular as well 
as the spiritual press, and because from such a source the statements are 
never in danger of erring on the side of credulity, we select the following 
from the New York Dispatch : 

" ' SUPER-MUNDANE,' WITH A VENGEANCE 'MEDIUM FLOATED IN THE AIR.' 

"Mr. Henry Gordon, a well-kno^vn medium for spiritual manifestations, being at a circle 
in this city one evening last week, was repeatedly raised from his seat and carried through 
the room, without any visible power touching him. The room was partially darkened, and 
the members of the circle could distinctly see him floating, with his lower extremities some 
two or three feet from the floor and some fifteen or twenty feet from the nearest person to 
him. The idea of any mechanical contrivance in this case is out of the question, as the circle 
was gotten up extemporaneously by persons too intelligent to deceive themselves and too 
honest to deceive others ; and the occun-ences took place at a house where Mr. Gordon was 
an invited guest only for the evening. Full particulars of the affair were related by eye- 
witnesses, at the spiritual conference in Bond street, on Tuesday evening last. Our friend 
Dr. Hallock was one of the party who witnessed this phenomenon, and perhaps may be 
induced to write ovX a more detailed account of it. 

" The same event took place mth Mr. Gordon in this city some two years ago, of which 
an account was published." 



I04 HISTORY OF MODERN 

In Buffalo, the most intense excitement was prevailing on the subject of 
the manifestations. Besides a number of mediums for the ordinary phases of 
spirit telegraphy, Miss Brooks, a young and interesting girl of a highly-respect- 
able family, became developed for the production of spirit music, which was 
performed in her presence in the most masterly and brilliant manner by an 
invisible piano-forte player, whose magnificent symphonies were produced 
when the instrument was turned with the keys to the wall, whilst one hand of 
the medium rested lightly on the cover and the other was held by a member 
of the circle. 

Hundreds of healing mediums were also exercising their beneficent gifts at 
this time. Amongst many who have since acquired a wide and deserved 
renown, none was more instrumental for the working of "miraculous" cures 
than Mrs. Mettler, of Hartford, Connecticut. The suffering and afflicted 
crowded her rooms from morning till night, whilst the records of the cures she 
performed under the avowed inlluence of spirits would fill a volume. The 
four daughters of Governor Tallmadge, of Wisconsin, became mediums, and 
by their influence and the exercise of their admirable gifts of seership, trance, 
musical improvisation, writing, and tongues, created an immense sensation in 
the fashionable circles in which they moved. 

Reports from the West and California were far more startling and abundant 
even than those at the East, and no day passed in which the spiritual journals 
v/ere not filled with narratives of the marvels that were transpiring on every 
part of the continent. 

The following extract, from the "Telegraph Papers" of 1853, is taken 
from the notes of the distinguished writer and tourist James Sargent, Esq., 
of Boston: 

"Mr. Sargent's route lay principally through tracts of country most remote from the 
influences of civilization. He was for a portion of the time surrounded ahnost exclu- 
sively by an Indian population in a state but little removed from barbarism. It need 
hardly be added that no vestige of literature, even to the establishment of a district post 
for the benefit of travellers, had ever penetrated these wilds. No means for the dissemi- 
nation of information existed, yet Mr. Sargent found that the rapplngs and all tiie other 
Spiritual manifestations were of common occii7'rence. 

"It was not by any means unusual, on entering a log cabin, to find the good, simple 
people seated round the rude table upon wliich raps were being made, and replying in the 
usual mode, to questions put by the auditory. There were to be found, moreover, both 
writing, talking, and seeing media, and these in considerable numbers. 

" The villagers themselves appeared to be in total ignorance of the nature and character 
of the phenomena ; only i^eplying, when questioned, that they ' did not understand it ; 
didn't know but that it might be the devil,' etc. 

"These sylvan rappings first occurred, it appears, when a number of people were sitting 
together in conversation, and created no small consternation. 

"Soon tables and chairs were moved, tipped over, and lifted, and many other Puck- 
like gambols performed. The idea that these wonders originated in some superhuman 
intelligence, seems to have occurred to these unsophisticated beings naturally, and without 
any kind of prompting or suggestion from persons already acquainted with the demonstra- 
tions ; and having arrived at this conclusion, and ascertained that the rappings could refly 
to them, they no longer hesitated to enter into conversation with them." 

Amongst records of incidental phenomena poured into the editorial sanct- 
ums of the New York spiritual journalists, the author selects, from o\qx five 
thousand similar paragraphs, a few that have been thoroughly well attested, 
as specimen signs of the times. The letter from which the following extract 
is taken was written for the Spwitual Telegraph by a thoroughly reliable 
correspondent. 



^ \ 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 105 

" Mr. Vinson Stockwell, in Thomson, Geauga County, Ohio, has in his family a little 
girl about twelve years old, who became fii"St a rapping, then a writmg, and lastly a clair- 
voyant medium. 

"She describes the nature of disease, tells the symptoms and feelings of the patient, 
prescribes for the same, and has performed wonderful cures. One case is as follows : A 
little girl nine j^ears old had been under the care of four very eminent medical gentlemen 
nearly two years, and during that time over one hundred pieces of bone had been taken 
from her limbs. The physicians finally gave her up as incurable, at which time she could 
only be moved from one bed to another on pillows. She is now entirely cured by a pre- 
scription made by spirits through this medium. 

"Another was a case of deafness of four years' standing. The patient is a lady, a 
neighbor of mine, and I knev/ her to be so deaf that it was with much difficulty that she 
could be made to understand by loudly speaking in her ear. This case, too, had baffled 
the skill of several physicians. She was entirely healed by spiritual agency through this 
meduun. 

"Another astonishing fact is as follows: Mr. Stockwell, father of the medium, left here 
for California; afterwards his family had news of him by spiritual agency almost daily, 
stating his whereabouts, and many little incidents occurring in his journey, which statements 
were found to correspond exactly with his letters afterward received. But the most aston- 
ishing fact of all was, that after being absent about one year, and the family not hearing 
from him for some time, they sat for spiritual communications, and to their surprise the 
spirit informed them that Mr* Stockwell was on his way home. This information was quite 
unlocked for, as Mr. Stockwell was not expected home until the year following. The 
question was asked, 'Is he on the water?' Answer, 'No he is on the Isthmus.' The 
spirit stated at the same time on what day of the month he would be at home ; and, strange 
as it may appear, he arrived on the very day foretold, and stated that he was on the Isthmus 
at the time stated m the communication. 

The Hartford Times, Connecticut, publishes in ]\Iarch, 1853, the account 
of a seance which one of its regular correspondents held Avith I\Ir. D. D. 
Home. After relating at length the extraordinary feats of marvel performed 
through tables, bell-ringing, j^laying on various instruments, and moving 
about of heavy pieces of furniture, etc., the writer goes on to relate an 
incident of such an interesting character that we quote the description 
entire, only premising that the editor vouches for the full faith and reliability 
of his correspondent's statements : 

"Later in the evening, when the company were preparing to retire, and after some of 
the party had gone from the room, the spirits requested us to wait ; and those that re- 
mained were permitted to see th.e most remarkable part of that evening's proceedings. 
The gas-light had been turned do\\m, but sufficient light remained in the room to render 
ourselves, and most objects, quite visible, and the hands of the party, Avhich rested on the 
table, could be distinctly seen. The spirits asked : 

"'How many hands are there on the table?' There were six of us in the party, and 
the answer, after counting, was 'twelve.' 

'■^ Reply — ' There are thirteen.^ 

"And there, sure enough, on that side of the table which was vacant, and opposite to the 
medium, appeared a thirteenth hand ! It faded as we gazed, but presently up it came 
agaivi — a hand and an arm, gleaming and apparently self-luminous; and it slowly moved 
onward toward the centre of the tal:)le ! To make sure that we were not deceived or 
laboring under a hallucination, we counted our own hands, which were all resting in sight 
upon the table. There it was, however, an ami and a hand, the arm extending back to the . 
elbow, and there fading into imperceptibility. We all saw it, and all spoke of it, to assure 
each other of the reality of the thing. It had the color and appearance oi silver, but with 
this difference — it seemed to be, to a certain extent, self-luminous; it emitted a faint but 
perceptible light. Presently it vanished, but we were soon permitted to see not only the 
same thing again, but the process of its formation. It began at the elbow, and formed 
rapidly and steadily, until the arm and hand again rested on the table before us. It was 
so plainly seen that I readily observed it to be a left hand. I inquired : 

" 'Can you ivrite with that hand, in plain sight?' 

"Anszuer (by raps) — ' Perhaps.' 



Io6 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

"A sheet of paper and a pencil were placed in the centre of the table, the hand receded 
meanwhile from view. In a moment it came up again [always appearing from the vacant 
side of the table] and slowly moved forward to the paper, which it grasped and drew back 
to the edge, and there shook and rattled it for some moments, but failed to write anything 
legible. It then disappeared, and the next moment the bell was taken from beneath the 
table, carried from the circle some six feet toward the centre of the room, and there rung 
by invisible means, and so distinctly that persons in another room, beyond an mterveniug 
wall or passage-way, plainly heard it. 

" Presently it was brought back and dropped upon the table — and this while each of us 
sat quietly, without moving. The hand again appeared, was seen to take the bell from 
the table and place it in the hands, first of one, and then of another of the party. At 
length it vi^as placed in mine; but, slipping my hand over the bell, I grasped the hand that 
held it, desiring some more tangible knowledge of its character than that afforded by sight. 
It was a real hand — it had knuckles, fingers, and finger-nails; and what was yet more 
curious[if possible], it was soft and warm, feeling much like the hand of an infant, in every 
respect but that of size. But the most singular part of this [to me] strange occurrence is 
yet to be told — the hand melted in my grasp ! dissolved, dissipated, became annihilated, 
so far as the sense of feeling extended. It subsequently reappeared on the table and again 
vanished, after a statement [by the raps] to the effect that this hand had been produced by 
a near relative of some of those in the circle, who had been in the interior life a number of 
years. This question was then spelled out : 

" ' Woidd you like to see the hand of a colored person ? ' 

"In a moment more there appeared a rather dull-looking ^rfl'jj/ hand, somewhat shadowy, 
and not quite so clearly defined as the first, but it was unmistakably there, and its gray hue 
coiild be clearly seen. 

" But this account grows lengthy, and must close. Occurrences yet more astounding than 
any here related remain untold. Perhaps in another chapter I may give some of them, 
and also a glance at one theory concerning the philosophy of the production of these 
startling realities. Fact. 

"Hartfoki>, March 18, 1853." 

"SPIRITS IN CALIFORNIA — 1852. ' 

"Jesse Hutchinson vsrites from California that the spirit rappings are quite prevalent in 
the land of gold. There are now said to be some twenty good mediums in San Francisco. 
They have seized upon the editors and conductors of the public press. The Herald is now 
the only sheet as yet unblest by their presence. One of the editors of the Alta has become 
a medium ; also the principal editor of the Whig, and one of the editors of the Placet 
Times is an enthusiastic believer and medium." Spiritual Telegraph. 

In a very interesting article written by Hon. Horace Greeley for Putnanis 
Monthly Magazine the talented author gives several striking narratives of 
the spiritual experiences of some of his friends, together with his own keenly 
acute though non-committal comments thereon. 

Amongst others, the following recital, though it has frequently been repub- 
lished, will not be out of place, as illustrative of the character of early 
phenomenal facts, vouched for on the authority of Mrs. S. Helen Whitmar 
the celebrated poetess of Rhode Island. 

The narrative is given in part of a letter addressed by Mrs. Whitman to 
Mr. Greeley, who introduces it with strong affirmations of the unimpeachable 
character of the testimony he cites, also with the following postscript added to 
his letter in Puttiani s Magazine : 

"P. S. — Since the foregoing was in type, the writer has received the following letter from 
Mrs. Sarah H. Whitman, of Providence, R. I., in reply to one of inquiry from him as to 
her own experiences in Spiritualism, and especially with regard to a remarkable experience 
currently reported as having occurred to Hon. James F. Simmons, late U. S. Ser.ator 
from Rhode Island, and widely known as one of the keenest and clearest of observers, most 
imlikely to be the dupe of mystery or the slave of hallucination.' 

" The most material portion is as follows: 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. ' TO 7 

" ' Dear Sir, — I have had no conversation with Mr. Simmons on the subject of your note 
until to-day. I toolc an early opportunity of acquainting him with the contents, and this 
morning he called on me to say that he was perfectly willing to impart to you the particu- 
lars of his experience in relation to the vi\-^%t<tx\on%\NX\'ivc\.<gperforined2mdcrJiisve7yeyes 
in broad daylight, by an invisible agent. In the fall of 1S50 several messages were 
telegraphed to Mrs. Simmons through the electric sounds, purporting to come from her 
step-son, James D. Simmons, who died some weeks before in California. 

" ' The messages were calculated to stimulate curiosity and lead to an attentive obsei-va- 
tion of the phenomena. Mrs. S. having heai^d that messages in the handwriting of deceased 
persons were sometimes written through the same medium, asked if her son would give 
her this evidence. She was informed — through the sounds — that the attempt should be 
made, and was directed to place a slip of paper in a certain drawer at the house of the me- 
dium, and to lay beside it her own pencil, which had been given her by the deceased. 
Weeks passed on, and although frequent inquiries were made, no writmg was found on this 
paper. 

" ' Mrs. Simmons happening to call at the house one day, accompanied by her husband, 
made the usual mquiry, and received the usual answer. 

" ' The drawer had been opened not two hours before, and nothing was seen in it but the 
pencil lying on the blank paper. At the suggestion of Mrs. S., however, another investiga- 
tion was made, and on the paper was found a few pencilled lines, resembling the hand- 
writing of the deceased, but not so closely as to satisfy the mother's doubts. Mrs. Sim- 
mons handed the paper to her husband. He thought there was a slight resemblance, but 
should probably not have remarked it had the writing been casually presented to him. 
Had the signature been given him he sJiould at once have decided on the resemblance. He 
l^roposed, if the spirit of his son were indeed present — as alphabetical communications, re- 
ceived through the sounds, aflirmed him to be — that he should, then and there, affix his 
signature to the suspicious document. 

" ' In order to facilitate the operation, Mr. S. placed the closed points of a pair of scis- 
sors in the hands of the medium, and dropped his pencil through one of the rings or bows, 
the paper being placed beneath. Her hand presently began to tremble, and it was with dif- 
ficulty she could retain her hold of the scissors. Mr. Simmons then took them into his 
own hand, and again dropped his pencil through the ring. It could not readily be sustained 
in this position. After a few moments, however, it stood as if firmly poised and perfectly 
still. It then began slowly to move. Mr. S. saw traced beneath his eyes the words James 
D. SiMMO.NS, The letters were distinctly and deliberately written, and the handwriting 
was a facsimile of his son's signature. But what Mr. S. regards as the most astonishing 
part of this seeming miracle is yet to be told. 

" ' Bending down to scrutinize the writing more closely, he observed, just as the last word 
was finished, that the top of the pencil leaned to the right ; he thought it was about to 
slip through the ring, but to his infinite astonishment he saw the point slide slowly back 
along the word Simmon's, till it rested over the letter i, where it deliberately imprinted a 
dot. This was a punctilio utterly unthought of by him ; he had not noticed the omission, 
and was therefore entirely unprepared for the amendment. He suggested the experiment, 
and hitherto it had kept pace only with his will or desire ; but how will those who deny 
the agency of disembodied spirits in these marvels, ascribing all to the unassisted pow- 
ers of the human will or to the blind action of electricity — how will they dispose of this last 
significant and curious fact ? The only peculiarity observable in the writing was that the 
lines seemed sometimes slightly broken, as if the pencil had been lifted and then set down 
again. 

' ' ' Another circumstance I am permitted to relate, which is not readily to be accoimted for 
on any other theory than that of spiritual agency: Mr. S., who had received no particulars 
of his son's death until several months after his decease, intending to send for his remains, 
questioned the spirit as to the manner in which the body had been disposed of, and received 
a very minute -^nd circumstantial account of the means which had been resorted to for its 
preservation, it being at the time embalmed. 

" ' Improbable as some of these statements seemed, they were, after an interval of four 
months, confirmed as literally true by a gentleman, then recently returned from California, 
who was with young Simmons at the period of his death. Intending soon to return to San 
Francisco, he called on Mr. Simmons to learn his wishes in relation to the final disposition 
of his son's remains. 

" ' I took down the particulars in writing by the permission of Mr. S. , during his relation 
of the facts. I have many other narratives of a like character from persons of intelligence 
and veracity ; but they could add nothing to the weight of that which I have just reported 
to you.' " 



lo8 HISTORY OF MODERN 

The following "test" of spiritual identity is inserted both on account of 
the ingenious method of representation employed by the spirits, and for the 
sake of Mr. Bartlett's valuable and well-accredited testimony. 

TELEGRAPH PAPERS. 

"Among the numerous investigators of the subject of spiritual philosophy is ]\Ir. Bart- 
lett, the well-known Mexican boundary commissioner. Mr. B. is a man thoroughly versed 
in science and natural philosophy, and is widely known, either personally or by reputation, 
throughout a large section of the United States. 

" On the occasion of which I speak, Mr. Bartlett had gone, in company with ex-Senator 
Tallmadge, to the residence of Mrs. C. Laurie, of Washington, for the purpose of witness- 
ing some of the manifestations. Mr. L.'s family are all mediums. Mr. B. was a stran- 
ger to the family, and was merely introduced by Governor Tallmadge as Mr. Bartlett, a 
friend of his. Soon the hand of Mr. L.'s daughter was moved to write the letters 
'M. B.' 

" No one present recognized the personage whose presence was thus indicated, and it 
was asked : 

" ' Were you a relative of this gentleman ? ' [Mr, Bartlett.] 

"'No.' 

" The hand of the medium was then made to draw the picture of a covered baggage or 
camp-wagon, drawn by a team of mules. To these objects were added, at a little distance, 
a large tree and the prostrate figure of a man, apparently dead, beneath it. 

"'This,' said Mr. B. , 'looks like a scene in Mexico. The wagon and the mules are 
just like those we used there. But I do not understand the man lying under the tree.' 

" Hereupon Mrs. L., who is a very impressible medium, remarked : 

"*I receive the impression that that man died a violent death; and further, that his 
Christian name was Marcus.'' 

" Soon after, she added : 

" 'He lost his life by some means in connection with that tree, and I think his body 
must be buried beneath it. 

" At this juncture Mr. Bartlett was startled by the thorough recognition of the indi- 
vidual who was thus endeavoring to make himself known. He recollected him at once, as 
a man who had been attached to the boundary commission and whose name was Marcus B. 
This individual, in company with two others, had acquired a bad name among the members and 
attaches of the commission, and at length the three committed a high and daring crime, for 
which they were arrested and tried before a jury empanelled by Mr. Bartlett upon the spot, 
consisting of six Americans and six Mexicans, and the result was a condemnation to be hung 
upon the nearest tree. This sentence was promptly executed, and the three bodies were 
buried beneath the tree on which they had been hung 1 

"The invisible presence showed unmistakable evidence of satisfation at the recognition, 
and proceeded to say that he had come to ask Mr. B.'s pardon for his wrong deeds, adding 
that he did not impress Mrs. L. with his whole name, for the reason that he had a brother 

and a mother living in the State of , who did not know of his death or his jojurney 

through Mexico, and he did not wish to lacerate their feelings by any announcement which 
might spread from others. 

"Mr. B. subsequently said that this statement was strictly true. He remembered the 
surname of the man who had thus unexpectedly and strangely come to him, and stated 
that his family were actually living in the remote State which had been designated by the 
spirit. 

"No member of Mr. Laurie's family had ever heard of 'Marcus B.' or knew aught of 
his tragic death." 

"NEW PHASE OF TPIE MANIFESTATIONS— SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, 1853. 

" Waukegan, Jime 7. 

"Dear Britain, — Among numerous and remarkable facts occurring all over the 
land, furnishing incontestable proof of spiritual communion, the one I am going to relate 
may not be considered the least curious or interesting. 

"A lady medium in this vicinity, Mrs. Seymour, when entranced, is in the habit of 
writing communications on her arms with the point of her finger — first on the left arm 
with the index finger of the right hand, and then vice versa. The writing is for some 
minutes illegible, but soon it begins to appear in raised letters that can be both seen and 
felt distmctly. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. T09 

"At first these lines have a whitish appearance, but afterwards become a bright red, and 
can be as plainly seen and deciphered as chalk-marks on a wall. When examined by the 
sense of feeling, they impart the same unyielding impression to the finger as the ridges 
inflicted by the stroke of a whip, though the finger, in writing, is passed over the surface very 
lightly and rapidly. To the eye they look like a burn, or not unlike erysipelas. They 
remain thus distinct and legible for fifteen or tv/enty minutes, causing no pain or even un- 
pleasant feeling, and then gi-adually fade away as they came, leaving the skin natural, 
smooth, and uncolored. 

"The lady is also a speaking medium, and at the close of her address, in this manner, 
usually gives the name of the spirit who has been speaking, or answers questions by '■yes'' 
and '7/1?.' Sometimes, however, she will write short communications, covering the whole 
arm from wrist to shoulder, in two or three lines, often commencing on one arm and finish- 
ing on the other. It is curious to witness the facility with which the arm is twisted to 
receive the successive lines. The philosophy and rationale of this is as puzzling to the 
sceptic — and I may say also to the believer — as many other wonders of this wonderful 
visitation to man. 

"How the unseen operators manage to thus use the different portions of the living 
organism, the finger for a stile, the vital fluid as ink, and the living cuticle as parchment, 
it remains, perhaps, for Dodds, or the Devil, or some other aspirant for fame to account for, 
on the score of ' the involuntary powers of the mind,' or some such theory equally satisfac- 
tory and assininely luminous. W. B." 

Since the publication of the above letter, \ratten by an esteemed and 
reliable correspondent, many hundreds of persons have seen and borne wit- 
ness to Mrs. Sejaiiour's remarkable mediumship. 

Several other mediums have recently been developed for the same phase 
of spirit-power, but as the above is the first public notice that appeared of 
this phenomenon it is deemed worthy of insertion here. 

The following is an extract from the " notes of travel," Amtten for the 
Boston New Era by the Rev. Charles Hammond, of Rochester, New York. 
This gentleman, it may be remembered, was one of the earliest investigators 
of Spiritualism through the mediumship of the Fox family. At the first few 
interviews which Mr. Hammond enjoyed with "the spirits" he became power- 
fully controlled as a personating, speaking, and trance medium. His physical 
system was violently exercised, and that contrary to his wish, or — in view of 
his ministerial capacit}'- — to his sense of propriet}'. 

In course of time, however, he became a writing medium and gave several 
interesting and voluminous works to the world, purporting to be communica- 
tions dictated by spirits. He subsequently became a popular inspirational 
speaker, and it was in this mission that the observations were made, a few of 
which will be found as follows : 

"NOTES OF TRAVEL. 

" Rochester, ytdy 14, 1852. 

"Friend Britain, — Believing that the readers of the TelegraI)k-movi[& be gratified 
with a brief account of what I witnessed during my six weeks' tour to the West, I am 
induced to write to you, leaving you to judge and dispose of the matter as you may think 
proper 

"Along the entire path of my journey I found individuals of the highest respectability 
anxiously inquiring into the truth, and gladly receiving the light of spiritual commtmica- 
tions. I made a short stay in Chautauque, where I foimd one rapping medium who received 
such instruction through my hand as resulted in developing her condition so as to become a 
writing medium. Several other persons were exercised very powerfully, even beyond their 
power of resistance. One young man took the pen without the least expectation that he 
could be moved, and in less than five minutes his hand began to shake, and shake more 
violently, as he offered resistance, then both hands, and afterwards his limbs, so that he 
could not sit or stand still, but began to dance to the astonishment of himself and friends. 
This exercise was continued for more than an hour, when he was released. He said it did 
not tire him in the least 



no HISTORY OF MODERN 

"From this county, I passed on to Cleveland, where I arrived on Sunday too late for 
the meeting of the Spiritualists. I, however, found a circle in the evening, far advanced in 
the philosophy of spiritual intercourse. 

"During ten or twelve days, I had the pleasure of attending circles of Spiritualists every 
evening, beside visiting some forty or fifty families in the daytime. It is nearly impossible 
to describe the peculiar manifestations which I beheld, or the manner in which persons are 
exercised by spirits. 

' ' The most remarkable are the speaking, pointing, and dancing mediums. The speaking 
mediums sometimes act and speak in a dialect wholly unintelligible to me, yet apparently 
well understood by those v/ho are conversing. The circles being formed, mediums are 
instantly affected, as it were with a magnetic shock ; their eyes become closed, and yet they 
act and move about the room with as much readiness as though they were conscious of 
everything about them. When the medium rises, however silent they may be, by a simple 
motion of the finger another is brought on the feet, and another, and so on, till the required 
number are unwillingly led into a circle, when the speaking commences, each alternately 
participating in the subject, under the control of spirits, who act upon the organs in such a 
manner as to force the utterance of words very readily and correctly. I have in my posses- 
sion a very interesting dialogue which was repeated at the house of Mr. Kirkpatrick, in 
Ohio city. This dialogue was uttered in the Indian language, and was not at first under- 
stood until a translation vi^as written out by my hand. The manner of its delivery was 
purely characteristic of the red man, and yet I had no idea of the subject until my hand 
involuntarily wrote it out. I also heard a French dialogue spoken by the same mediums, 
not one of whom understood the language. And however incredible it may seem, these 
mediums do not, as they inform me, become unconscious of the presence of the company, 
nor have they the power to sit down or do differently than they do. All that is done seems 
to be wholly mechanical, and the mediums may be regarded as the machinery, acted upon 
by an invisible povrer so as to induce manifestations of spirits, who control the voice, words, 
and gesticulation, and thus correctly identify themselves. 

" The pointing mediums signify to each other by signs what is required, and their silent 
language is readily obeyed. I saw whole circles formed and placed in their proper order 
witlaout a word being uttered. 

" The dancing mediums are old and young, and of both sexes. Sometimes the dance is 
performed in a circle of three or four persons, but not always. The movements are very 
eccentric, yet often exceedingly graceful. 

" There was a peculiar feature in this display of spirit-power which arrested my attention. 
No one who danced desired it, neither could they stop it. They sometimes made an efi'ort 
[for they were conscious] to sit do^\^:l or fall down, but they could not do either. 

"A lady who had joined the Methodist Church in Cleveland, only two weeks previous, 
was thrown into a magnetic condition, and called for music, and after she had danced fifteen 
or twenty minutes was suddenly released and returned home. 

"I saw several exhibitions of dancing during my stay in Cleveland, and I have reason to 
believe that such exercises may be necessary to prepare persons for mediumship. 

"Accompanied by Dr. A. Underbill and Mr. H. Camp, I visited Akron. We were 
cordially received, and met a large circle, convened on short notice at a private house. 

"The most remarkable feature of spirit manifestations which I witnessed in Akron was 
the exercises of Miss R. and a daughter of Mr. Bangs, who had scarcely reached her teens, 
both of whom were imacquainted with music, yet acted upon by spirits in a way to play the 
most exquisite tunes upon the piano. I heard a great many pieces, difficult and plain, per- 
formed by both in a style that would do credit to the learned in musical science. 

"My time being limited I pushed on to Adrian. Here I gave a public lecture, at the 
request of the SpirituaHsts, in the evening, and have only to regret that the largest hall in 
the place was too small for the congi'egation. 

"There are several good mediums in Adrian, and I found them progi'essing. . . . 
From Adrian I proceeded to Rome. Here I met a circle at the house of P<.e\'. Robert 
Wooden. Some four or five mediums met me here, and the number was doubled in twenty- 
four hours 

"In Addison I spent two days. A circle was formed, and we enjoyed a very pleasant 
season. 

"Indeed, throughout the State there is scarcely a neighborhood without mediums and 
friends of the truth. 

" In Chicago I tarried two days, met with two or three circles, and delivered a public 
leclure, which was well attended. In Illinois and Indiana there has been some excitement 
during the past winter, and I learned that it was constantly increasing. Mr. Eddy, of 
Chicago, is erecting a hall to accommodate a large congregation 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. HI 

" I next proceeded to Waukegan, by invitation of the several members of the 'Excelsioi 
Society.' Here I gave three public lectures on Spiritualism, and found a great many warm 
friends of the new philosophy. ' The Excelsiors ' number among them the most talented 
and respectable portion of the city, and they have held meetmgs twice every Sunday during 
the past year. 

" In the morning a lecture is delivered on such moral or philosophical subjects as the lec- 
turer prefers, and in the afternoon a conference, in which all are permitted to speak who 
wish. 

"On the 3d of July I reached home, and nothing occurred during the whole journey to 
lessen the conviction that a gi-eat reform is contemplated by the spirits among the inhabitants 
of earth. I saw enough to satisfy me that no human power is competent to arrest or over 
throw the work of progress. 

"Yours, truly, 

"C. Hammond." 

The circumstances detailed in the following letter are inserted as iUustra- 
tive of an immense array of facts of a similar character, v/hich were occurring 
in the experience of the clergy shortly after the lirst manifestations at Roches 
ter. 

It answers the captious inquiry of those who marvel why the "elect and ap- 
pointed ministers of God" were not favored with the out-pouring of the spirit in 
the same ratio as lajonen. The truth is that hundreds of these reverend pastors 
of souls wa-e called with the same urgency as the one in question, but unlike 
the Rev. S. B. Britain, R. P. Ambler, William Fishbough, Thomas Benning, 
and many others [now prominent as spiritual speakers] but few of the rev- 
erend body have had the courage or honesty to acknowledge fearlessly the 
source of their inspiration, or the supra-mundane nature of the power that at- 
tempted to deal with them. To "quench the spirit," and, "despise prophe- 
cyings," has hitherto been the approved clerical method in treating Spiritual- 
ism ; hence it is that we select from many cases [some recorded in print, bu*^ 
still more, carefully suppressed, though known to and witnessed by the 
author] the opinions with which one honest though not very enlightened 
minister of the gospel viewed the approaches of the spirit in tangible demon- 
strations. 

SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, NEW YORK.— A CLERICAL MEDIUM. 

" It appears that the Rev. B. S. Hobbs, of Webster, New York, a clergyman of the Uni- 
versalist denomination, has of late been controlled by spirits in a forcible and irresistible 
manner. His own account of his experience recently appeared in the Christian A??ibassador 
of this city, and has since been copied into the secular journals. We subjoin the concluding 
portion of his letter: 

" ' By the request of the friends here I assumed the pastoral duties of this society, and I 
continued my labors for a period of nearly six months. I had then nearly came to the conclu- 
sion that the days of trial were past, and a better and brighter future would soon be mine. 
But the cherished hope was vain. In a moment when I least expected it, the bolt again 
fell, and I was crushed, in gi'eat sorrow, humiliation and anguish, to the dust. 

" ' It is proper here to say that this exhibition was the most painful, if not the strangest, 
of any I have experienced. My speech was first controlled while in the solemn act of prayer ; 
and then I again was compelled to speak in a manner that, as before, led me to think it spir- 
itual, and others to think me strangely diseased, if not partially insane. Before, when these 
more than dreadful trials were mme, the strange influence was of short duration. Not so, 
however, in the present instance. I was obliged, in spite of all my efforts to prevent it, to 
exhibit the character of the speaking medium in full, by addressing an audience on two dif- 
ferent occasions, and going tlurough the strangest ordeals common to the Spiritualism of the 
present age. 

" ' Nor did it end here ; nor is it my duty now to say," the end is yet apparent. Soon my 
hand, as often before, was seized by the strange spirit-power and I was obliged to write its 
prophecies and sayings. This has continued for a few months past and the same work is 
yet going on, and from Sabbath to Sabbath I am acting, not as a Gospel minister, but as 
a spirit medium.' 



112 HISTORY OF MODERN i 

•'By this time the reader will inquire, 'Does not the writer believe in the fact of spirit 
intercourse?' The question shall be answered. I am unable to understand my stian^-e ex- 
perience in any other manner. It has from the first been my opinion that no derangement 
oi mind covld J>ossi/>/y do the work with which I have long been acquainted. IJut the 
ordeal has been so terrible that I have tried to account for it in some other way than it has 
ever claimed to originate 

"I commend myself into the Father's hands, and to your Christian charity and brotherl;^ 
love. 

" B. S. HOBDS. 

"Webster, New York, Jj>ri7 zj." 

We shall conclude this chapter by a few extracts from the digest of corres- 
pondence received by the editors of the Spiritual Telegraph. 

The cases selected are neither phenomenally strange, nor will our space 
allow us to insert more than about one per cent, of the number that one year 
alone could furnish ; they are chosen simply for what their title signifies, 
namely: a "digest of correspondence," also as specimens of the progress of 
the movement ; but above all, they are records, the entire authenticity of 
which the author is personally cognizant of 

"DIGEST OF CORRESPONDENCE. ' 

•' We have received a long communication from G. H. Baker, of Demming, Indiana, de- 
tailing some curious spiritual proceedings in that place. We have not room for the com- 
munication entire, but the leading facts which it details are, that the writer and others were 
on one occasion directed by the spirit to meet at a particular house and take a fiddler with 
them, and they were promised some demonsti^ations that would astonish them. The 
assembly having taken place, as soon as the fiddler commenced playing a number of persons 
became entranced, and commenced dancing in the most graceful m.anner, though several of 
them had been brought up Quakers and were entirely unused to that kind of exercise. A 
young girl of fifteen being also entranced was made to assume the position of moderator ; 
and when some sceptical persons had for sport intruded themselves into the circle of dancers, 
she would seize them and lead them to the door. 

" By mutual consent of the Spiritualists and Methodists a meeting was subsequently 
called with the understanding that the Methodist clergyman should preach a discourse 
against Spiritualism, and that Mr. D. Mong, a speaking medium who then happened to be 
in the place, should reply to him. The evening of the appointed meeting having arrived, 
the band of dancing mediums, some fifteen or twenty in number, were the first to enter the 
house. They commenced their g}'ratory operations to the no-small scandal of the Method- 
ists, one of whom, being the moderator of the church, commanded them to take their 
seats. 

" The only response he received was a blow upon the mouth, inflicted with the palm of 
the hand by the medium who was the moderator of the dancing circle, and the spirits in- 
sisted on taking their own time to finish the dance. 

" A long discourse from the clergjanan ensued, which was replied toby the spirit, through 
Mr. Mong ; and during the proceedings a Methodist lady, the proprietor of the house 
where the meeting was holden, came under spiritual influence and bade adieu to the church ; 
and an impression decidedly favorable to the spiritual cause appeared to be left upon the 
minds of the generality of the audience. 

" Upon the question whether these spirits acted an orderly or disorderly part we have 
nothing to say ; but if they were disorderly spirits, and those Methodist friends were really 
Christians, it does seem strange to us that they had not the power to rebuke them and cast 
them out — a power which, in the olden times, was considered as one. of the necessary marks 
of true Christian discipleship. [See Mark xvi: 17. — Ed. Tclegraph.'\ 

" The editor of the Piedmont Whig, published at Warrenton, Virginia, who is not a 
convert to Spiritualism, says, in answer to the cry that the manifestations are all a juggle 
and humbug : 

" ' Here are many thousands of ' mediums,' many of them children four or five years old, 
exhibiting these things daily and nightly in the presence of hundreds of thousands of specta- 
tors, many of whom are shrewd, intelligent sceptics. Supposing the thing to be a trick, 
all these mediums, men, women, and children, must be respectis'ely provided with a set of 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 13 

juggling apparatus of the most delicate and complicated character, sufficient to produce re- 
sults which have all the outward appearance of miracles, but which must nevertheless be so 
easily managed and luiderstood that a child can operate with it, and yet be so carefully and 
artfully concealed that thousands of eager, prying eyes cannot lind it out. All these thou- 
sands of juggling machines in operation, and controlled often by young children, for four or 
five years, in the presence of hundreds of thousands of spectators, and not one solitary case 
of detection occurring in all that time ! We cannot believe it. It seems to us as great an 
absurdity as the Vv^ildest theories of those who believe in the spirits. And if the thing is 
not a contrivance — a trick of the mediums — what is it? That's just what we want to know.' 

"SPIRITS AND MEDIUMS IN TROY, 

" Mr. W. H Vosburgh, of West Troy, writes us concerning some interesting develop- 
ments which are occurring in that place, the essential particulars of which we condense as 
follows, not having room for the communication in full : A brother of Mr. Vosburgh, a 
lad of some sixteen years, becom.es possessed by the spirits, who use him for various pur- 
poses, and among others for the purpose of diagnosing disease and prescribing its remedies. 
If while he is under spirit-influence, a stranger enters the room who is in any way diseased, 
the spirit who controls and speaks through him will detect the disease instantly, v.ithout a 
word being spoken by any person in the form, and will proceed to describe it without fail- 
ure, proving thus that he has access to a source of knowledge which is beyond the reach of 
ordinary physicians in the body. Through another medium the spirits are giving lectures 
upon a variety of high subjects pertaining to natural and spiritual philosophy. The medium's 
education embraces the knowledge of no language besides the English, and yet his hand has 
been used to write different languages, and further, both hands have been zised at the 
same time, one writing on one subject and the other on another.'' These latter facts 
afford a knotty question for sceptics to solve consistently with the denial of spirit presence 
and influence. " — 7 ele graph Papers. 

The following is an incident occurring in the mediumship of a very gifted 
and well-known family of the highest respectability in Washington : 

SPIRITUALISM IN WASHINGTON. 

"The Ring Experiment — A Great Test — Spirit Lights — New York 
Spiritual Telegraph [1853.] 

"Dear Sir, — On Sunday, January 8, the spirits manifested their presence and their 
power in the following beautiful manner. The phenomenon occurred at the residence of 
Mr. C. Laurie in broad daylight and in the presence of several persons, among whom 
was the writer : 

"Mr. Laurie's daughter, under spirit-influence, was directed to go to the piano, and place 
thereon a heavy gold ring. Llaving done so, her hand was brought up and placed over the 
ring in such a position that the fingers pointed downward toward it at a distance of about 
four inches. Presently the ring began to rise. The medium's hand was then moved still 
higher, and the ring followed it, approaching witliin some two inches of the tips of the 
fingers. It then slowly fell down toward the piano; when, having fallen some six inches, 
it gradually rose to its former position. It soon fell again, in the same gi-adual manner, 
but this time to a greater distance, a foot or more. As it once more slowly rose, the 
medium was made to bend backward, her head being thrown back, while her hand was 
raised and carried over her head, imtil the fingers pointed downward to the floor. The 
ring followed the hand, describing an arc in its passage over the medium's head, and 
dropped down some six inches from the tips of the fingers behind her, where it hung 
suspended in air. After remaining in this position a few mom^ents, it dropped nearly to 
the floor, so slowly and beautifully as to satisfy every one present that physical jnagnetism 
was not the agent employed in producing its movements. Then it gradually rose again 
some fourteen inches or more. In this manner it kept rising and falling for some time, as 
if to convince each beholder that a power outside of and beyond any physical law con- 
trolled its motions. 

" The hand was next moved slowly back, followed by the ring, and as the medium's body 
slowly regained its upright position, her hand was carried toward the wall, to v.'hich it 
approached within about three inches. The ring then commenced striking against the wall 
with a clear, ringing sound, like that of a glass beU. The hand at no time touched the 



114 HISTORY OF MODERN 

wall, nor came nearer to it than the distance above stated ; but the ring would leave the 
tips of the fingers, dart against the wall, return, and then repeat the act. It then followed 
the hand while it came back to its first position over the piano, where it again went 
through with the motions of falling and rising. 

"The above beautiful experiment was plainly seen by all in the room, and the circum- 
stances were such as to exclude all possibility of deception, if the medium had been disposed 
to deceive. But the persons present were only those of her o'wti family, and one other 
besides myself; and the character of Mr. Laurie and his family would forlaid the idea of 
trickery, even had the circumstances been otherwise. 

" On one evening subsequently, the ring experiment was again given, but not quite so 
perfectly. It rose, however, some feet from the table, and followed the medium's hand 
again over her head, dropping down from behind her as before. Among the spectators on 
the latter occasion was the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings. Mi\ E. W. Capron and a Senate 
reporter were also witnesses of the sight. 

" In remarking on the above experiment to Mr. Giddings, I observed that it was a most 
beautiful one. The medium, who was then in a trance, soon after wrote as follows : 

"' Well may you say how beautiful is the communion of the spirits with those of the 
lower sphere ! And far more beautiful it will be as the cause progresses. Joy, peace, 
and Heaven, — all, all, shall be yours, and all connected with you in this holy cause. 
Glory to God the Most High ! 

'"Ben. Franiclin.' 

" The following 'clincher' of a test occurred, I think, on the same day; but I will not 
be positive as to the precise time. Mr. Laurie, while quietly seated by the fire, was 
suddenly impressed with the presence and the name of the Rev. Mr. Wardlaw, of Glasgow, 
Scotland. So strong was the impression that he was forced to speak the name, and say, 
'I am here.' In a moment more, on coming to himself, Mr. Laurie recollected that he had 
not heard of Mr. Wardlaw's death, and so remarked to his family. [Mr. Wardlaw had been 
an intimate friend of his father, the late Rev. James Laurie, who was long and well known 
to the people of Washington, and who in early life lived in Scotland.] 

" The next week's steamer brought the news of Mr. Wardlaw's death, which had occurred 
at a date shortly previous to that of the visitation received by Mr. Laurie. Although Mr. 
Wardlaw was an eminent divine, and well known in Scotland and in this country, no one 
was further from the thoughts of Mr. Laurie at that particular time than he was, and his 
death was not then known in this country. 

" On Sunday afternoon, January 22d, the little daughter of Mr. Laurie [in the spheres] 
manifested herself to her parents in the form of a large, bright star, which appeared on the 
wall. It was seen by all the family, and was so luminous as to light the otherwise 
darkened room to a high degree. It appeared as large as a saucer at first, but gradually 
contracted until it finally disappeared. One of the most remarkable things connected with 
this manifestation was the outline of a tiny htt»ian form — resembling the figin-e of a little 
girl — which was distinctly seen inside of the radiant star. The kiie of the star is described 
by those who saw it to have been apparently like that of the most brilliant colors of the 
rainbow combined. It was seen by all the family who were present, which fact proves that 
it was no psychological effect, but a positive presence of spiritual elements and forces, 
presented in this most beautiful form of manifestation. The curtains were lifted from the 
windows, and the sunlight allowed to stream into the room and upon the wall where the 
star was fixed, but the latter still remained, and its "super-solar blaze" paled the ineffectual 
fires of the god of day. At length, upon the mother's involuntary approach toward the 
vision with outstretched arms, in an instinctive desire to retain the presence of her child, it 
vanished altogether. 

"Yours, B." 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 1 5 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM IN THE EASTERN STATES. 
" So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." 

"And when they heard these sayings, they were full of %vrath, and cried out saying, ' Great is Diana of the 
Ephesians.'" 

Dr. Robert Hare, his Methods of Investigation, Conversion and Tes- 
timony — The American Scientific Association and its Aims — Dis- 
tinguished Opponents — Rogers, Mahan, Elliott, Dodds, and Beecher 
— " Depravity of the Times " — Richmond and Britain's Controversy. 

Amongst the distinguished savans who became interested in the cause of 
Spirituahsm was Dr. Robert Hare, Professor of Chemistry in the Pennsyl- 
vania University, and a gentleman whose successful researches into the oc- 
cult branches of science had procured a world-A\ade celebrity for his name. 

He first became an investigator in 1853, when, to use his own words, he 
" felt called upon, as an act of duty to his fellow creatures, to bring whatever 
influence he possessed to the attempt to stem the tide of " popular mad- 
ness," which in defiance of reason and science, was fast setting in favor of 
the gross delusion called Spiritualism." 

In pursuance of this humanitary impulse, the venerable professor, noticing 
that the said delusion was running a particularly rampart course in the city 
of his residence — Philadelphia — and in answer to a scientific inquirer on the 
subject of electricty, published a scathing letter in which, on " electrical 
grounds, he propounded a theory calculated to destroy even to annihilation 
the whole phenomena of Spiritualism, ending by the emphatic declaration that 
he "entirely coincided with Farraday's theory of table-turning." Whether 
Spiritualism Avas not in itself based on " electrical grounds," or that it might 
suffer decapitation a thousand times, and yet cry " I still live," it boots not 
now to inquire. Certain it is that tables would continue to turn, floors to 
rap, and ponderable bodies to float in space, though Professor Farraday had 
demonstrated so clearly that it was not in their nature to do so ; and what 
was yet more remarkable, these sort of performances would keep on increas- 
ing in power and number, even after the American Fa)^'aday had added his 
dictum to that of his English confrere against the legality of these erratic 
physical proceedings. 

To give all possible facility for outworking the Philadelphia professor's 
humane purpose of restoring bewitched humanity to its senses, the secular 
press throughout the country republished his letter with triumphant comments 
of their own ; whilst two distinguished divines in New York, several in 
Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, Buffalo, and various cities of the West, 
actually made an electrical theory the subject of elaborate Sabbath-day dis- 
courses, and for the first time in the history of ecclesiasticism, rehgion 
joined issue with science in the pious attempts to prove either that we had 
no souls at all, or that they were more ignorant and powerless without their 
bodies than with them. Whilst the whole religious world were rejoicing over 
the destructive dictum of English and American science, combined in the 
persons of Farraday and Hare, a quiet under-current of influence was setting 



1 1 6 HIS TOR Y OF MODERN 

in an o]Dposite direction, the result of which proved the glorification of Amer 
can Christendom to have been somewhat premature. The first action of 
this counter current will be better understood by the perusal of the following 
letter, the nature and authorship of which tells its own story : 

"SouTHWiCK, 'Ma?,s., November ij, i%i,T^. 

" Prof. Hare : Dear Sir, — I had the pleasure of a slight acquaintance M'ith you 
something less than twenty years ago, when I exhibited telescopes in Philadelphia. You 
will, I trust, excuse the liberty I take in writing to you now. I have seen your letter in the 
Philadelphia Inquirer upon table moving. I never believed it was caused by electricity 
or galvanism, but is it not as likely to be these as muscular force ? You agi-ee with Pro- 
fessor Farraday that the table is moved by the hands that are on it. Now, I know as 
certainly as I can know anything, that this is not true in general, if it is in any instance. 
There is as much evidence that tables sometimes move without any person near 
them, as that they sometimes move with hands upon them. I cannot in this case doubt 
the evidence of my senses. I have seen tables move and heard tunes beat on them when 
no person was within several feet of them. This fact is proof positive that the force or 
power is not muscular. If any further evidence was necessary to set aside Professor Farra- 
day's theory it is found in abundance in the great variety of other facts taking place through 
the country, such as musical instruments being played upon without any hands touching 
them, and a gi'eat variety of other heavy articles being moved without any visible cause. 
If tables never moved except when hands were on them, and if table turning constituted 
all instead of the least part of Spiritualism, the case would be different, but as they do 
move both with and without hands, it is plain that the true cause yet remains to be dis- 
covered. 

" I wish, sir, you had time and opportunity to witness some other phases of this matter 
which seem not to have fallen under your notice, and I think you would be satisfied 
that there is less 'hallucination' and ' self-deception' about it than you have imagined. 

" The intelligence connected with these movements yet remains to be accounted for. 

"If these things can be accounted for on scientific principles, would it not be a gi-eat 
acquisition to science to discover what those principles are? If, however, science cannot 
discover them, the public are deeply interested in knowing the fact. 

"No cause has yet been assigned that does not imply a gi^eater absurdity than even to 
believe, as many do, that it is caused by spirits either good or bad, or both. 
"Yours, respectfully, 

"Asa Holcombe." 

This letter, which will be found in Professor Hare's elaborate work on 
" Spiritualism Scientifically Demonstrated," together Avith other inducements 
oifered by personal friends of the professor's, at length resulted in his visit to 
a medium, then to another, and still others, until his investigations, stimulated 
by the fresh marvels that accumulated around him, put to flight all his scien- 
tific imaginings on the subject, and brought forth the gigantic array of testi- 
mony which was afterwards given to the world in the work on "Spiritualism," 
above alluded to, which was published in 1856. 

To a mind like the professor's, imbued with all the principles of that 
materialistic system, which so many scientists determine must cover all men- 
tal as well as physical phenomena, the process of convertion was very slow — 
in fact, a battle in which the learned savant fought over every step of ground 
which the spirits gained. Besides testing the intelligence of the communica- 
ting power through an immense number of media, and in every conceivable 
form, Professor Hare invented all sorts of machinery tlirough which he pro- 
posed to detect "tricky spirits." Even the description of these ingenious 
contrivances would fill a volume ; we must therefore limit ourselves to a 
brief account which Mr. S. B. Britain published, of one of his " spirit 
traps," and an extract from the statement of the doctor himself, made to the 
New York Conference in 1S54. Writing of Professor Hare's experiments 
with prepared machinery, Mr. Britain says : 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 1 7 

" First, to satisfy himself that the movements were not the works of mortals, he took 
brass billiard balls, placed them on zinc plates, and placed the hands of the mediums on the 
balls, and to his very great a.stonishment the tables moved. He next arranged a table to 
slide backward and forward, to which attachments were made, causing a disc to revolve 
containing the alphabet, hidden from the view of the inediums. The letters were 
variously arranged, out of their regular consecutive order, and the spirit was required to 
place tiiem consecutively, or in their regular places. And behold, it was done ! Then 
followed intelligent sentences, which the medium could not see or loiow the import of tUl 
they were told him. 

" Again he tried another capital test. The long end of a lever was placed on spiral 
scales with an index attached, and the weight marked ; the medium's hand rested on the 
short end of the beam, where it was impossible to give pressure do%vnward, but if pressed 
it would have a contrary effect, and raise the long end ; and yet, most astounding, the 
weight was increased several pounds on the scale. These v.ere all novel and very excellent 
contrivances, and will forever settle this question ; and they should be published in every 
paper in the Union. Proceeding {xov:\.sicch ati author, all little quibblers will of course hide 
their puny heads forever." 

NEW YORK CONFERENCE — SESSION OF SEPTEMBER, 1854. 

" The conference assembled at the usual hour, with a pretty full attendance. After the 
business matters were disposed of, Mr. Partridge stated that as Professor Hare, of the Penn- 
sylvania University, was present, it would, perhaps, be interesting to the assembly, if he 
would rehearse some of his wonderful experiences in regard to the evidences of spirit pres- 
ence and power. 

"Dr. Hare arose, went forward to the platform, and said, that 'perhaps there was 
nothing more astonishing in the history of science than that which was presented to the 
human mind in the fact that the presence of a frail boy or girl supplied the conditions for 
the exhibition of an invisible power, physical and intelligent, far transcending their normal 
capacities.' He said, that 'although all men had the power to witness these manifestations, 
yet there was, undoubtedly, something in the sphere or presence of a rigid sceptic, which 
interfered with the conditions, and stiflsd the outcoming of the phenomena.' 

"In illustration of this, he stated that he once went into a room appropriated ioseanccs ; 
saw an ordinary dining table ; examined it thoroughly, and could ascertain nothing unusual 
or extraordinary about it. A medium was present, and the table was repeatedly moved, 
without any apparently physical contact, and made to beat time to music. 

" lie then got upon the table, with his limbs hanging over the side, but without touching 
the floor, and it was raised repeatedly from the floor, with his superincumbent weight upon 
it, and made to beat time to a variety of tunes that were sung, the quavers and semi-qua- 
vers all being accurately touched off by it, all of which it was impossible for one in the form 
to accomplish. 

"On a subsequent occasion, he took a gentleman — the editor of the Dally Courier — 
to the same place v/ith him, when the phenomena were repeated, the table again beating 
time to the music with the gentleman upon it, and other equally extraordinary exhibitions 
of spirit-power. But afterward, he took a Professor of Dickenson College, who was a con- 
firmed sceptic and opposer of the manifestations, to the same medium, and although the 
external conditions v/ere apparently alike favorable, they failed to get the least manifesta- 
tion of spirit-power. He told him to call again, and perhaps they would succeed better. 
After he was gone, the manifestations were produced as usual, and upon asking the spirits 
why they did not manifest in his presence, they said — ' Tell him we could not do so, because 
he was himself a counter or antagonist tnedluvi, and that his presence annulled the power 
of the medium. ' 

" Subsequently he came again, and brought v/ith him another gentleman. Dr. Bird, who 
was favorable to Spiritualism, and they all sat down together for the manifestations. The 
medium T\'as forthwith entranced, and took the hand of Dr. Bird, when the nianifestata- 
were, as usual, produced. The favorable influence of Dr. Bird had evidently countervailed 
the opposing sphere of the Dickenson Professor. He believed that the spirits had told the 
truth, when they stated that the sphere of some persons, and especially sceptics, was counter 
to that of the medium, and destroyed the power of the spirits to operate. Inasmuch as 
there were degrees of mediumship, it v/as natural to suppose that they shaded ofl", until they 
presented in some persons, and especially sceptics, a positive and antipodal power, whiclj 
balanced and overcame that of the spirit through the medium. 

"A friend of his in Philadelphia had a boy v.'ho was an excellent medium. He was often 
alone v/ith him in his lecture-room, and witnessed a number of most extraordinary test man- 
ifestations. On one occasion, the spirit of his brother came and communicated. Said that 



1 1 8 HIS TOR V OF MODERN 

he had died of dropsy, in intense pain, which was occasioned by the water oozing through 
the skin. He had died si.xty-four years ago. The doctor said he was now seventy-six years 
of age — had survived all his family, and no one living knew the circumstances of that 
brother's death but himself. 

" On another occasion, a spirit came, moved the spirit-scope, without any physical con- 
tact whatever, and spelt out the name of C. H. Hare, and upon being asked who it was, 
he replied, 'Your cousin from New Brunswick. ' This was, in fact, a second-cousin of his, 
with whom he had but little acquaintance while he resided on earth. He had a basket, 
filled with a number of small glass and metallic balls, and the spirits would, without any 
visible contact, throw these balls about the room until the basket was emptied, and then 
again collect them in the basket. The boy-medium never took any money for his time or the 
exercise of his mediumship. His father, upon request, consented to let him accompany him 
on his recent trip to attend the session of the ' American Association for the Advancement 
of Science,' at Montreal. One evening, on their way to Canada, they were having a «'(7;/f^, 
with the boy for a medium, at Dr. Gray's, of this city. After the usual exhibition of the 
spirit phenomena, the boy could not find his cap. They searched high and low, through the 
room and house for it, but without success. The spirits told him to go without his cap ; 
but, not liking to be seen in the streets without it, another was procured for him. After 
they had gone about a hundred yards from the house, the cap fell upon the table, in the 
presence of those who i-emained. 

"Next morning, while yet in their state-room on board the boat, they found the door 
locked, and the key missing. They searched for a long time unsuccessfully, when the 
spirits said it was in the bottom of the carpet-bag. But the key of the carpet-bag was also 
gone, when the spirits sa,id it was at the bottom of the trunk, and on taking out the bag- 
gage they found it and then found the key of the door at the bottom of the carpet-bag. 

" When they arrived at Montreal, and j)ut up at their hotel, he hunted his baggage for 
his toilet-case, but could not find it. The spirits told him it Avas under the bolster of his 
bed. He raised the bolster and searched, but could not find it. He had his eye upon the 
boy all the time. The spirits told him to look again ; and upon raising the bolster again, 
precisely where he had looked before, he found it. It was impossible, he said, that the 
boy could have done this, for he stood in the same place all the time, and could not have 
moved without his seeing him. 

"The next evening they went to a large party, at the house of a lady, to hold a circle. 
They had packed the spirit-scope, balls, and other apparatus in the carpet-bag. There were 
many sceptics and disagreeable persons present ; many counter-mediums, as he supposed. 
When they came to open the carpet-bag they could not find the key. They went to the 
table, but could not get any communications. They entered into another room with the 
boy, and the spirit spelled out, by means of raps, that he would get the key before he got 
home. Whilst he was riding along the streets of Montreal on his way home, the key came 
down upon his breast ! 

" On another occasion, while alone with the boy in their room, and after they had just 
locked up the balls, spirit-scope, shaving-case, etc., in his carpet-bag, the balls were in some 
inscrutable way, taken from the carpet-bag, and fell upon him in a shower. Then came 
the box, razor-strap, etc., all falling, apparently from above, on and around him. 

"Upon entering his room one evening, he discovered his spirit-scope, which he had 
previously locked in his carpet-bag, hanging high upon the frame of the bar of his bedstead. 
It was so high that the boy could not reach it without procuring something to stand upon 
much higher than the bed. He then called the chambermaid and interrogated her in regard 
to it, but she replied that she could not account for it. While they were still together 
talking about it, the spirit-scope came down beside him on the floor. This, he said, could 
not have been performed by either the boy or the girl, because he saw that they did not 
doit. 

" The doctor related many similar instances of the exhibition of spirit power which took 
place during his recent journey. He said that he had been engaged in scientific pursuits for 
upwards of half a century, and his accuracy and precision had never been questioned until 
he had become a Spiritualist, whilst his integrity as a man had never in his life been 
assailed until the Harvard Professors fulminated their report against that which he knew 
to be true, and which they did not know to be false." 

These meagre details of simple facts by no means constitute the whole or 
even a tithe of the phenomena with which Professor Hare's experiences 
abound. 

The high reputation of this gentleman for scientific attainment, his invinci- 
ble love of truth and unimpeachable integrity, no less than the ingenuity 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 119 

which he displayed in his early investigations, and the keen acumen which 
he brought to bear upon all phenomena of a supra-mundane character, from 
the trilling facts above narrated to experiments involving the most serious 
consequences to fortune and reputation, made his accession to the cause ot 
Spiritualism a subject of as much importance to its friends as it was the 
theme of bitter vituperation, insult, and calumny, from its opponents. 

For instance, the Hazard Professors, of whom the learned doctor had long 
been an admired colleague and friend, denounced his " insane adherence to 
the gigantic humbug" with an insolence which our sense of decency forbids 
us to reprint ; but the culminating point of insult which the venerable gentle- 
man was doomed to experience, because he would persist in recording facts 
as he found them and defending the truth which he had proved, was dealt 
by the hands of the body with whom for many years he had been associated, 
and whom the commonest usages of civilization should have restrained from 
heaping affronts on the white hairs of him who had heretofore been their 
shining light and distinguished ornament. 

The transaction to which we allude was the impertinent action of one of the 
members of the "American Scientific Association," sanctioned by the majority 
of that distinguished body, and subsequently endorsed by all of them in their 
proceedings. In the Telegraph's very mild yet significant account of the 
meeting, no details are given of the coarse and ungentleraanlike tone of the 
discussion which bullied Professor Hare into silence; still, as the subject of 
Spiritualism was not deemed a "proper one" for that grave and learned 
body to discuss, and the Telegraph clearly sets forth what, in the same session, 
was found to be a proper subject for discussion, we shall give the report verba- 
tim, leaving the world to judge of the fitness of "the American Scientific 
Association" to comprehend, even if they were willing to discuss the sublime 
truths of Spiritualism. 

TELEGRAPH PAPERS. 

"The American Scientific Association has just closed its annual session in this 
city [Washington, D. C] The meetings were held in the lecture room of the Smithsonian 
Institute. Before the close of the session, Professor Hare, of Philadelphia, read to the 
convention an invitation, made on the part of the Spiritualists of Washington by a com- 
mittee, to attend the lecture of Rev. T. L. Harris, on Spiritualism, on Saturday evening, 
April 29th. In the midst of the reading of this paper, Professor Henry entered the hall, 
and upon hearing the subject of ' Spiritualism ' mentioned, he turned red in the face and 
interrupted Professor Hare by this inquiry : ' I would be glad to know, Mr. President, if 
tJiis subject is in order ? Professor Plare remarked, that whether the subject were in order 
or not, it was hardly in order to interrupt a member of the convention in that manner 
before he had finished reading his communication. Professor Plenry replied that this was 
' a dangerous subject to be introduced into this convention ;' that it had better be let 
alone, and he moved that it be laid upon the table. The invitation was finally laid upon 
the table. 

" It would seem that a subject like this was one which would lie peculiarly within the 
domain of 'science.' But the ' American Association for the Promotion of Science' 
decided that it was either unworthy of their attention or dangerous for them to meddle 
with, and so they voted to put the invitation on the table. 

"We cannot omit in this connection to mention that the 'American Association for the 
Promotion of Science' held a very learned, extended, grave, and profound discussion at the 
same session, ttpon the cause why ^roosters'' crow bet-ween twelve and one o'' clock at 
night ! Several very ingenious explanations were, we believe, adduced to account for this 
remarkable phenomenon, which the 'American Association for the Promotion of Science' 
justly regarded as a question naturally challenging their most serious investigation, and to 
the task of accounting for which they resolved to bring to bear the combined force of their 
highest energies. It was finally decided by the association that t'ne important fact that 
roosters crow at half-past twelve o'clock at night is to be only accounted for on the sup- 
position — strongly sustamed, however, by well-ascertained collateral facts in science — that 



I20 HISTORY OF MODERN 

at that particular hour a wave of electricity passes over the earth's surface, from north to 
south, v/hich disturbs the fowls in their slumbers, and being naturally of a croiuiiig 
disposition they all, on being thus Avakened and aroused, with one accord set lustily at 
work a-crowing ! We think the 'American Association for the Promotion of Science' 
have hit the mark at last. They deserve well of their country for having made tlie above 
important acquisition to the discoveries of science, and the members who were chiefly 
instrumental in bringing the subject up and arriving at the conclusion v/hich was adopted 
should be voted a medallion by Congress. The obverse side of the medal miglit appropri- 
ately bear the image of a barn-yard cock in the attitude of crowing, with inii inscription 
beneath, ' Eureka ! ' while the reverse could with propriety represent a cluster of clucking 
old hens." 

One thing was certain, Dr. Robert Hare had become a Spiritualist ; and 
as a l(3cturer, writer, teacher, and investigator, the youngest soldier in the 
cause grew tired by his side. 

His revered name and the long and brilliant siege which his tenacious 
opinions endured before he yielded full credence to the spiritual character of 
his besiegers ; the insults which he meekly suffered for the cause of truth, and 
the rich legacy of spiritual experiences Avhich he has left to the world, render 
his name a bulwark in "the Spiritual City" and his conversion a memorable 
era in the history of the cause. 

The Rev. Adin Ballou, of the respected ministerial family of that name, 
had long professed his firm faith in the manifestations, and by writing and 
public lectures nobly sustained his opinions. The Rev. Allan Putnam, of 
Roxbury, Massachusetts, and the distinguished poet, scholar, divine, and 
orator, Rev. John Pierpont, of the same State, also entered the ranks, and 
performed valuable service for the faith, of which fuller notices will be found 
in the record of New England Spiritualism ; indeed, the shining list of names, 
great in Ameriaan annals, if not made prominent with the toy dignities called 
titles, T/ere extending to a formidable length in every State of the Union. 

And now once more let us inquire into the nature of the opposition that 
was broiight to bear against Spiritualism, without, however, in a single instance 
retarding its progress, or winning back its converts from their faith. 

Of the character of the itinerants professing to lecture against it, or give 
"public demonstrations of the modes in which the raps, etc., were made^'' 
Messrs. Grimes and Burr form a fair specimen. Trickery, collusion, and a 
set of dangerous manipulations with the joints, which every physiologist 
declared could not be continued for three months without developing diseases 
of the most ruinous character, with a plentiful mixture of libellous falsehoods 
and defamatory mis-statements, made up the stock in trade of this set of 
mountebanks. 

Still a lower, and more unprincipled class Avere represented by one 
Anderson, a professed juggler, who, presuming on the interest which attached 
to the subject of Spiritualism, attempted to make capital out of it by adver- 
tising immense sums to be given by way of challenge to the Spiritualists, etc. 

All who have ever had the patience to listen to or read the reports of this 
man's gasconading, v/ill confess that Grimes and Burr were respectable, 
compared to him. Yet in despair at the lack of better v/eapons, there have 
not been wanting those who, when out of the. presence of Spiritualists, and 
speaking with bated breath, would protest that '■'■Professor [?J Anderson had 
explained all about the raps, and killed Spiritualism right out" Leaving all 
the small fry of this character to the ignominy which has long since svrept 
over their names, let us glance briefly at the efforts of those v^'hose position 
in society entitled the world to expect from them something at least worthy 
of their names. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 2 1 

To commence with those who assume to be the highest literary and scien- 
tific authorities on this subject, let us notice the work of Dr. C. C. Rogers, 
of Boston, who filled a volume with what he called, " The Philosophy of myj- 
terious Agents, Human and Mundane." In strict accordance with the title of 
his work, Dr. Rogers has favored us with a treatise so eminently mystci'ioiis 
that the only comprehensible idea we can glean from it is, that though the 
manifestations do actually occur, nevertheless they are not the work of 
spirits. 

Still, as somebody or something must be answerable for that power which 
had proceeded from the turning of a table to the turning upside down of an 
entire continent, the Doctor gravely enunciates a theory which lays the whole 
burden of the manifestations on the cerebrum, which is supposed someJww to 
act somewhat in the way described by one of Dr. Rogers's newspaper eulo- 
gists in a criticism on his work which reads as follows: "He said that he 
thought the revelations were not spiritual, but a cerebral automatic move- 
ment, depending for its development upon the idiosyncratic temperament of 
each individual, inspired through the spinal centres by a mundane process of 
electrized vitality acting upon every molecule of the system." 

As this sentence includes a quotation from Dr. Rogers's book — in fact, claims 
to be a compendious definition of its meaning — it implies on the part of the 
v/riter a condition of lucidity to which few persons besides the Boston editor 
could arrive after attentively perusing the book. As an example of the effect 
produced by this occult work on less enlightened journalists, we quote a 
second criticism, vdrich appeared in the columns of the Cincinnati Commercial, 
and which though obviously written in the spirit of satire, is not an inapt 
description of more learned stuff than that of Dr. Rogers's on the subject of 
the manifestations. 

The extract reads as follows : 

The only true and legitimate manner of accounting for the taps is the physiological de- 
fect of the membraneous system. The obtuseness of the abdominal indicator causes the car- 
tilaginous compressor to coagulate into the diaphragm, and depresses the duodenum into the 
flandango. Now, if the taps were caused by the vogation of the electricity from the extremi- 
ties, the tympanum would also dissolve into spiritual sinctum, and the olfactory ossihcator 
would ferment, and become identical with the pigmentum. 

"A friend of ours, who graduated with 'distinguished honors' at one of the Northern 
miiversities, says that he must dissent in toto from the idea that the 'depression of the 
duodenum into the flandango' could, by any possibility, cause the 'olfactory ossihcator to 
ferment, and become _identical with the pigmentum.' He says the thing cannot be clone; 
and after quoting several learned authorities on the subject, winds up his argimient by the 
remark, that : 

" ' The vibratory motion communicated to the tunica albugenia by the parturition of the 
alveola process, effectually disintegrates the cerebellum, and predisposes the patient to pre- 
ternatural distension of the auricular membraneous orifice ; in which case, the rappings 
become painfully and distinctly audible ! ' 

"Now, whether this is, or is not so, we will not undertake to say, but will leave the 
whole matter in the hands of the learned savans, in the full confidence that little can be 
added to the above triumphant and incontrovertible exposition." 

As if to compensate for the undue share v/hich Dr. Rogers assigned to the 
cerebrum in turning the world upside down, Dr. Dodds, another learned phil- 
osopher, came to the rescue, with a theory of equal lucidity, which accounted 
for all the mischief, by the "automatic action of the cerebellum"; both gen- 
tlemen agreed that the nerve centres had something to do with it, but the 
particular way in which they acted, v/hether in conjunction vvfith the cerebrum 



12 2 HIS TOR Y OF MODERN 

or the cerebellum, was precisely Avhat constituted the cream of the mystery^ 
and what neither of the learned doctors would or could explain. 

Unfortunately for the success of the back-brain theory of Dr. Dodds, just 
as it was midway in its career, and seemed likely to divide tlie honors with 
the front-brain theory of Dr. Rogers, the cerebellum advocate himself became 
a convert to Spiritualism, and by aid of his accomplished daughter. Miss Jen- 
nie Dodds, a medium of fine oratorical capacity, carried into the fold of the 
spiritual church, a much larger number of converts than his "back-brain" 
theory had ever found readers. 

Soon after the first issue of the Spiritual Telegraph in 1852, Dr. Richmond, 
of Ohio, a gentleman of profound learning and research, commenced a series 
of papers, which were published in the New York Tribune, antagonistic to the 
claims of Spiritualism. 

At the suggestion of Mr. Greeley, chief editor of the Tribune, Dr. Rich- 
mond consented to engage in a friendly discussion with Mr. S. B. Britain, the 
arguments, pro and con, being published in the Spiritual Telegraph, and con- 
tinuing to instruct and entertain a rapidly-increasing circle of readers for over 
seven months. The learning and abiHty displayed on both sides by these 
able disputants not only contributed vastly to the enlightenment of the public, 
but aided, to a great extent, the circulation of the Spiritual Telegraph, in 
which they were published. 

To answer the increasing demand for these valuable articles, they were sub- 
sequently reprinted, in pamphlet form, and passed through many editions, 
every one of which was rapidly exhausted. 

The arguments of Mr. Britain were, for the most part, based upon reasons 
derived from an immense array of pertinent facts ; those of Dr. Richmond 
were chieliy attempts to make the facts fit his peculiar theories. According 
to these, the manifestations were the production of disease, hysteria, halluci- 
nation, excessive excitement, etc. Dr. Richmond brought an immense num- 
ber of cases forward in illustration of his theories, and concluded a very inter- 
esting, though far-fetched resume of his arguments, by the following state- 
ment : " All intense, long-continued excitement, political, religious, or men- 
tal, will induce this state of mind. I pronounce it to be a diseased condition, 
and all spirit manifestations to be the work of spirits in the body." 

Not in the spirit of retaliation, but in simple justice to the truths of history, 
and as a specimen of the kind of warfare through which Spiritualism has 
marched onward to its present triumphant position, we feel bound to reprint 
the criticism of the New York Times on the Richmond and Britain Discussion 
pamphlet, which the publishers had courteously forwarded to the office of that 
journal for review. The first notice which appeared in the New York Times 
was as follows — 

"Discussion of the Facts and Philosophy of Ancient and Modern Spiritual- 
ism ; by S. B. BRITAIN and Dr. B. W. Richmond. New York : Partridge and 
Britain : 

"Appended to the fly-leaf of the copy of this work with which we were honored, was a 
printed notice from the publishers, drawing our attention especially to the book, and con- 
cluding with these words : 

" ' We are now rapidly extending our list of publications, and shall be pleased to send you, 
from time to time, the better class of our bocks, should we learn, from this experiment that 
you are disposed to treat them fairly.' We are very much oliliged to Messrs. Partridge and 
Britain for their consideration ; but could none of their spirits inform them (is not Mr. 
Britain himself a medium?) that we should certainly treat the present book most unfairly? 
For, of course, treating it fairly means praising the book, the medium, and the spirits. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 23 

Now, we can do neither ; we have, on the contrary, very harsh things to say of all parties 
concerned, and the book into the bargain. Messrs. Partridge and Britain will not thank u? 
for oiu^ opinion of the ' better class' of their publications, if the present work is to be con- 
sidered a specimen. They must understand that we look upon the spirit-rajjping question 
as a most detestable swindle ; while we believe that many of the mediums are poor, deluded 
creatures, we are convinced that the projectors and promoters of the affair are knaves, as 
infamous as ever served out a life sentence in a State-prison. 

"Of this particular work, which purports to be the record of a controversy between a 
believer and a sceptic, we can only say that, if it were not saved from our loathing by its 
stupidity, the evident collusion between the pretended disputants would disgust us. A more 
dishonest book has surely never been published in any country. We do not, after this judg- 
ment, expect to be favored with any more of Messrs. Partridge and Britain's publications." 

On the publication of this audacious article, Mr. Britain addressed the 
editor of the Times in the following letter : 

^^ Editors of the Times : 

"Gentlemen, — My attention has been called to your notice of my recent discussion 
with Dr. Richmond, of Ohio, wherein I find a simple remark, which must serve to excuse 
what you might otherwise regard as an unnecessary obtrusion. 

"It is not my purpose to controvert your opinions, nor to meddle with the ■ question 
which involves the facts and philosophy of the present spiritual movement. Respecting the 
supposed delusion of the media, and the alleged knavery of the prominent Spiritualists, I 
have nothing whatever to say. Time and the succession of human events will determine 
whether their claims are well or ill founded. 

" The single remark in your criticism, which gives me a claim to your indulgence, in the 
present instance, is the following : 

" ' Of this particular work, which purports to be the record of a controversy between a 
believer and a sceptic, we can only say, that if it were not saved froin our loathing by its 
stupidity, the evident collusion between the pretended disputants would disgust us. A more 
dishonest book surely never appeared in any country.' 

"As the above language charges the respective parties in the aforesaid discussion with man- 
ifest collusion and unmitigated dishonesty, I must be allowed to repel the charge, and to 
insist that the circumstances of the case are utterly irreconcilable with that assumption, in 
proof of which I submit the following brief statement of facts : 

"First, The writer of this never even heard of Dr. Richmond wntil his articles against 
Spiritualism appeared in the daily papers. Moreover, it is impossible to disguise the fact 
that the Doctor's letters to the Tribune were extensively copied ^iwdwiilQly endorsed hy t\\Q 
secular press, as affording a complete refutation of the spiritual theory. At that time, no 
one doubted Dr. Richmond's disposition, and few, except Spiritualists, questioned his ai5///^ 
to demolish the whole fabric of spiiitual philosophy. 

"Second, The invitation to engage in a critical examination of the facts and philosophy 
of the manifestations emanated from Dr. Riclimond himself, who insisted that he could 
account for all the phenomena on purely natural principles or physical laws. 

"Third, Personally, Dr. Richmond, eveji to this very hour, is a stranger to me. I do 
not know that we were ever within five hundred miles of each other. 

"Fourth, Our mutual correspondence has been limited to the published controversy, and 
the few brief -epistles necessary in the arrangement of preliminaries and the transaction of 
business. 

" Such, gentlemen, are the facts; and your readers will judge whether they afford any evi- 
dence of collusion, or of the slightest disposition, on our part, to deal unfairly with the 
public. 

"Allow me to add, in conclusion, that while I have hitherto invited no man to a discus- 
sion of this subject, I have never shunned a public interview with an intelligent opponent. 
Any ordeal which recognizes authentic facts and logical deductions as the legitimate means 
of trial, will still find me ready ; and, should you, gentlemen, after the perusal of this letter, 
be disposed to entertain your first impressions that the discussion already published xoas not 
entered into and conducted in good faith, and with a view to elicit the truth, perhaps it 
may be within your province to propose some advocate of the material hypothesis, m whose 
fidelity and ability you have confidence. 

" Should you find it convenient to designate such a man, I shall readily accord to his per- 
sonal claims, and those of the subject of our inquiry, the respect and attention which they 
shall seem to require. 

" Yoiu's respectfully, 

" New York, September 21, 1853. S. B. Britain." 



124 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

Mr. Brittain goes on to remark : — 

" Our accusers did not deem it proper to allow us a hearing in our o\vn defence. 

" The foregoing letter was suppressed without a word of apology from t\\e editor of the 
Times, whose shameless abandonment of the principles of honorable dealing may be justly 
inferred from the subjoined editorial remarks, which appeared in their next issue." 

"'SPIRIT RAPPINGS. 

" 'Mr. S. B. Britain, who asserts, we believe, the spiritual nature of the rappings, table 
movings, etc., about which so much noise has been made, writes to us, denying tliat there 
was any ' collusion ' between him and Dr. Richmond in tlieir recent controversy upon this 
subject. He gives sundry reasons in support of his assertion, which, however, is just as 
good without them as with them. Mr. Britain invites us to designate some person to hold 
a further controversy with him upon this subject. We do not happen to owe any of our 
acquaintances so deadly a spite as to lead us to recommend that he should engage in such a 
task. There are, probably, many ways in which more positive evil may be done, than by 
studying, writing, or reading upon this subject ; but we know none in which time can be 
more utterly wasted, or from which less good can possibly be derived. It is the easiest thing 
in the world for a fluent writer to cover reams of paper with interminable disquisitions upon 
this topic, and it is not very difficult, as things go, to procure their publication. But we can 
conceive no task more dreary or unprofitable than that of reading them. Every now and 
then we hear of some poor creature, whose brains have been addled by their devotion to 
such studies ; and the only reason why we do not hear of more is because the majority of 
those who enter upon such pursuits are either destitute of brains altogether, or else, they 
are hopelessly addled in advance. 

" ' We think Mr. Britain would have shown a much stronger faith in his spiritual gymnas- 
tics if he had accepted the offer, recently published in our columns, of one hundred dollars 
to any medium who would move the tables, or answer the questions of the gentleman who 
made the offer. The money was in our hands, and the offer was repeatedly published in our 
columns ; but as no medium came forward, we were compelled to return the money. If Mr. 
Britain, however, chooses to accept it now, we presume the offer would be renewed. This 
would be a much more decisive and satisfactory mode of settling this question than by such 
a controversy as Mr. B. proposes. What does he say to it ? ' " 

Again Mr. Britain writes-: 

"To give the Times a chance to redeem its credit by some show of moral courage, if 
any such latent element remained in its nature, we forwarded the following communication 
to the T7'ibime: 

"'READY FOR TRIAL. 

" ' To the Editor of the New York Tribune : 

" 'Sir, — Some days since, the Daily Times charged Messrs. Britain and Richmond, the 
parties to the late discussion of Spiritualism, with ' evident collusion' and dishonest dealing 
with the public. Whereupon the writer of this addressed a civil letter to the editors of 
that journal, denying the charge, and specifying certain facts and reasons which from their 
nature utterly preclude the existence of such alleged collusion and dishonesty. 

"'Instead of publishing the letter, the Times renewed its assault in the peculiar spirit 
which has already given it a mean distinction, and concluded by proposing wliat it was 
pleased to regard as a 'decisive and satisfactory mode of settling this question' — the claims 
of Spiritualism. 

" ' One of its correspondents had previously offered one hundred dollars for the production 
of certain phenomena, and the Times, to conceal the cowardice of its unprovoked and 
unprincipled attack on Britain and Richmond, and the leading Spiritualists, who were all 
characterized as 'knaves as infamous as ever served out a life sentence in a State prison,' 
calls on the writer to accept the offer of its correspondent. 

" 'Tlie object of this communication is to signify that the party whose name is subscribed 
below will accept the challenge, zvith or xuithont the accovipanyiiig offer of one hundred 
dollars, provided the first can be so modified that the Times and its correspondent wiU 
enter into the following fair and equitable arrangement : 

" 'First, The undersigned will designate two distinguished citizens of New York, who are 
known to the public and are above the suspiciou of personal or other unproper motives ; the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 25 

Times shall appoint two of like reputation for candor and honesty, and the four thus se- 
lected shall name a fifth. The parties so chosen shall constitute a committee to investigate 
any phenomena that may occur in the presence of such mediums as the undersigned shall 
select. 

" ' Second. The committee shall have twelve sittings, or a gi-eater number if the majority 
of the same shall so decide ; and at the close of the investigation it shall report the result. 

" 'Third. The committee shall be privileged to select the place of meeting, which maybe 
changed, if preferred, at each succeeding session. 

'"i'^ourth. Tlae Times and the Spiritual Teleg7-aph shall each publish whatever the 
committee shall be pleased to submit as its report of the essential facts elicited by the pro- 
posed investigation. 

'"As it does not comport with the illiberal and unjust policy of the Times to give 
publicity to any reply to its unfoimded accusations, I am forced to depend on your more 
liberal and widely-circulated journal, to enable me to reach the general public before 
which I am accused. 

'"Very truly yours, 

'"S. B. Britain. 

"* New York, September, 23, 1853.' 

" How did the Times treat this proposition? Why, after the manner which has charac- 
terized all of its class — it did not notice it at all. It was silent. We have ever been 
ready to submit the whole subject of spiritual manifestations to any just ordeal, however 
severe. We have expressed and othei'wise manifested that disposition on numerous occa- 
sions, through these columns, before public assemblies, and in social circles. 

"When Professor Mattison assailed Spiritualism, and we were sent for to vindicate its 
claims, we neglected other duties and went to New England to answer the call. The 
Spiritualists at West Winsted offered to pay Mr. Mattison's expenses and to give him 
twenty dollars to come back and support his unwarrantable assumption in presence of the ' 
■writer. But our astronomical friend had already reached his aphelion, and owing to the 
distance of that part of his orbit, he could not return in season. 

"The prince of jugglers, Anderson, on one occasion gave a vaunting challenge and 
offered five hundred dollars to any person in the United States who would produce the 
spiritual phenomena at Metropolitan Hall. jNIr. Charles Partridge presented himself at 
the liall, and proposed to make an effort to obtain the required results, on condition that 
Professor Anderson would consent to abide the decision of an impartial committee. 

"Notwithstanding Mr. Partridge positively declined to accept the money, in any event, 
the Professor would not hazard a fair trial. He, however, became greatly excited and 
abused Mr. Partridge and the mediums. In his confusion he called on the Lord and the 
New York Volunteers, and, of course, disgiTSted the sensible portion of his audience. 

" Mr. Partridge has elsewere made a similar offer, and on one occasion through the col- 
umns of the Tribune. The believers in Spiritualism have never declined any fair trial; 
but how has it been with the opposition ? Many of our valiant opposers have kept them- 
selves out of sight, while they have hurled their missiles in the form of challenges and 
denunciations. They have assumed various disguises that they might stab in secret at the 
most vital interests of truth and humanity. Whenever we have offered to meet them 
openly and in a scientific spirit, they have uniformly insisted on imposing unjust conditions 
and unnatural restraints. They claim that the manifestations, if they occur, must obey the 
laws of material nature, and insist that they shall be tested by such modes and formula as 
are alone applicable to the domain of physics. 

" When, occasionally, we have driven hypocrisy to its last resort, by proposing terms 
which sophistry can neither cavil at nor evade, these conscientious opposers became sud- 
denly taciturn. 

"Now we desire our readers and the public to observe and remember that Wi? ar^ /« 
C07istai2t readiness for a fair trial ; but our judges must be honorable men. 

"We do not propose to go to the Times office to turn over the editor's table with or 
without human hands, and leave him to tell the story, for the reason that we can not depend 
on the accuracy of liis statements. Men who dispute the most obvious facts and principles 
are in no case the most reliable witnesses, and whoever will falsely accuse and slander even 
the humblest disciple of the truth, for nothing, may not scruple to defame truth itself for 
' 07ie hundred dollars.'' " 

Such was the conduct of one of the most authoritative of the New York 
journals, for no other apparent motive than because Dr. Richmond, from 
whose known abiUty and personal antagonism to Spiritualism so much had 



126 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

been expected, failed signally in overthrowing the arguments of Mr. Britain 
in the discussion. It is but justice to add that the venomous character of 
this poison worked its own antidote, calling forth several manly and gener- 
ous protests from different New York journals against the atrocious conduct 
of the Times. Amongst these, Avas a frank statement from Mr. Greeley of 
the Tribune, declaring the entire absence of any collusion or even a personal 
acquaintance between the disputants, concluding as follows : 

" These facts bear their o\vn comment on their face. Whatever may be the truth 
respecting what is called ' Spiritualism,' we know that Messrs. Partridge and Britain are 
not scoundrels; that there was no 'collusion' between them and Dr. Richmond; and that 
the Times has acted in these premises exactly like the Times.'''' 

Besides the agitation which was excited by the narrow-minded selfishness 
and severity of the pulpit and press, three powers, more just, severe, and 
authoritative than all the world beside, have been sitting at the bar of judg- 
ment to decide on the claims of Spiritualism. These are Time, Progress, 
and Public Opinion. Their verdict has been rendered in during the twenty 
years that modern Spiritualism has been on trial before them, and their sen- 
tence is, " Spiritualism is a truth, and will live forever." 

These same unimpeachable judges have also been dealing with the New 
York Times ; and though the opinions of its editors on the subject of Spirit- 
ualism now are entirely unknov/n to the author, the tone of its columns is of 
such a nature as to justify the belief that its editorship is in the hands of 
gentlemen, who, however they may be personally opposed to the spirituaUs- 
tic belief, could not now, as formerly, be found attacking it with the weapons 
of falsehood and vulgar abuse. 

The next of the valiant crusaders against Spiritualism whom our limits will 
allow us to notice is a Mr. Charles Elliott. 

This gentleman was the author of a book, Avhich he was rash enough to 
publish in 1852, a period too early to furnish him with much more available 
material thau was to be found in all the then-extant slanders against the Fox 
family, and the queries as to whether the phenomena claimed by the Rev. 
Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, to be performed by spirits were not actually the work 
of the venerable ge7itler,ian himself, or that of some of his family. Had Mr. 
Charles Elliott's treatise on "mysteries," or "glimpses of the supernatural," 
fortunately fallen into the hands of a discerning editor, he might have been 
spared the expense of publishing a whole volume by the condensation of its 
material into the following pithy sentences, which will be found to embody 
all that the author has labored to prove in two hundred pages, namely : All 
the ma?iifestations recorded in the Bible are trice all others are the work of 
shallow imposture. 

Next came a volume of about the same size as Elliott's, written by the 
Rev. PI. Mattison, A.M., Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, 
and member of the same distinguished body that treated the venerable Dr. 
Hare with the courtesies referred to in the former portion of this chapter. 

The title of this book — "Spirit Rapping Unveiled, an expose," etc. — xAW 
sufficiently explain the basis of his argument. Suffice it to say, that, although 
his ground, like that of Mr. Elliott's, was wholly occupied with slanderous 
stories and newspaper libels against the Spiritualists, still, as he wisely took 
advantage of these three years later for their accumulation, his book possessed 
that additional claim at least to public notice. 

Next comes a book from which the community, whether of spiritual or 
materialistic tendencies, had a just right to expect some revelations which 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 127 

shoiiM help them to unravel the modern " mystery of mysteries." For was 
it not written by Professor Mahan, President of Cleveland University, and 
did it not undertake, in nearly five hundred closely-printed pages, to show 
that it was "modern mysteries explained and exposed?" But alas for the 
mystery, and still more for the explanation promised ! the best that the Pro- 
fessor could do was to deepen the mystery past all finding out, and this he 
accomplished by actually attributing the production of "Nature's Divine 
Revelations," "The Great Harmonia," "Penetralia," etc., together with all 
the rappings, tippings, visions, cures, apparitions, disclosures, clairvoj^aiit 
revelations, spirit lights, floatings, heavings, dancings, writings, and con- 
tents generally of twenty or more large journals, and several hundreds of vol- 
umes and pamphlets, to the work of odyle. 

Wonderful odyle in Professor Mahan' s eyes! Unhappily, however, for the 
credit of the Cleveland University's president, the odylic theory found no 
favor even with the bitterest antagonists of Spiritualism. The press generally 
were dissatisfied with the learned gentleman's shallow addition to the mysti- 
cism of the subject, and even the New York Times was ashamed of him, 
concluding a pathetic lamentation over his failure with admitting that, "We 
sigh for some means of explaining the explanation, and we do not attempt 
criticism on a book which we find it impossible to understand." 

To conclude the list of learned and pious foes who brought their battering- 
rams to bear against this impregnable fortress, and like the Prince de Conde 
after his twenty-one days' siege of the Bastile, were forced to retreat, leaving 
the walls as they found them, " only a little stronger." It but remains for 
us to record the attack of a certain " theological giant," by whose onslaught 
it was confidently believed, if never before, the demon of Spiritualism must 
yield up the ghost. The method of attack in this instance was on this wise : 
At a regular meeting of the Congregational Association of New York and 
Brooklyn, the Rev. Charles Beecher was appointed to prepare a report on the 
spiritual manifestations. This was faithfully executed and read before the 
association at its session of April, 1853. In his entire treatment of the sub- 
ject Mr. Beecher certainly maintained, both with the friends and opponents 
of the cause, the character of a gentleman, a scholar, and a Christian. Mr. 
Beecher assumed that spirits could only obtain access through prepared cdylic 
conditions ; he maintained that "this was the method by which the spirit com- 
municated through the ancient prophets and apostles," and added that " to 
substitute any other theory cuts up by the roots large portions of the prophetic 
Scriptures." 

"Whenever," he says, "odylic conditions are right, spirits can no more be repressed 
from communicating than waters from jetting through the crevices of a dyl-LC." And 
again: 

" Whatever physiological law accounts for odylic phenomena in all ages, will in the end 
inevitably carry itself through the Bible, where it deals with the phenomena of soul and 

body as mutually related, acting and reacting. If a theory be adopted everywhere 

else but in the Bible, excluding spiritual intervention by odylic channels iit toto and account- 
ing for everything physically, then ■will the covets of the Bible prove but pasteboard bar- 
riers. Such a theory tuill szueep its way through the Bible and its authority ; its plenary 
inspirations will be annihilated.'''' 

If Mr. Beecher had rested here, permitted each one to prove the spirits, 
tiy them, or, in fact, suffered each one to draw their own conclusions con- 
cerning the nature and value of the communications according to the rights 
of private judgment and conscience, Iiis report would have redeemed the 
whole ocean of slander, folly, and ignorance that disgraced the age in the 



128 HIS TOR V OF MODERN 

language of the opposition ; but instead of that, the reverend scholar, finding that 
his clear perception of fact, science, and reason compelled him to acknowledge 
the manifestations, and furnished him with a plausible and scientific origin for 
their production, suddenly became alarmed on the score of his religion. 
Deeming, possibly, that the new Bible might stand in the way of the old — that 
a priesthood of laymen, boys, girls, and unconsecrated persons generally, 
might interfere with the proscriptive rights of the consecrated ones particularly, 
he changed his tone, and declared that the ancient spirits did come " accord- 
ing to the law and the testimony," but the modern ones did not. That the 
ancient mediums — including, of course, Balaam, Samson, David, Solomon, 
etc.,- — were all men of God ; whilst the modern — including, of course, A. J. 
Davis, Kate Fox, Daniel Home, Linton, etc., — were children of the 
other party. That all the ancient manifestations — including, of course, the 
destruction of forty and two little children by bears for calling Elisha "bald 
head," and the sending of a lying spirit into the mouths of Ahab's four hun- 
dred prophets, etc., — were all performed by angels ; whilst the modern 
manifestations — including, of course, the thousands of souls converted to the 
belief of immortality from atheism and the seventeen hundred marvellous 
cures of blind, lame, deaf, and otherwise afflicted living persons, reported on 
unimpeachable authority by Messrs. Partridge and Britain — were all per- 
formed by the adversary and his imps ; in a word, that the Spiritualism of 
Judea two thousand years ago was all of God, and the Spiritualism of America, 
eighteen centuries later, was all of the Devil, and that — because he, the Rev. 
Charles Beecher, said so. 

*' Great is Diana of the Ephesians ! " 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SPIRITUALISTS' MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS. 

"Judas, betraj'est thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" 
" Speak, Lord, for thy sen'ant heareth." 

The Memorial — General Shields's Immortal Speech — The Society at 553 
Broadway, New York — The "Christian Spiritualist." 

It was in the year 1854, that a memorial was presented to Congi-ess pray- 
ing that honorable body to appoint a commission of investigation into the 
subject of modern Spiritualism. 

As the grounds of the petitioners' request, and a very fair summary of the 
aspect of the cause, is presented in the language of the memorial, we shall 
claim the privilege of placing it on record here, as much for the reasons 
assigned above as for the propriety of giving that document its legitimate 
place in these pages. 

The memorial was signed by fifteen thousand persons, the name of ex- 
Governor Tallmadge, of Wisconsin, United States Senator, etc., standing at 
the head of the list. 

Rev. S. B. Britain was intmsted with the difficult task of drawing it up, 
and at the request of Governor Tallmadge, General Shields, U. S. Senator, 
agreed to present it, with a view of lu^ging the nomination of a select com 
mittee to consider the subject. 






AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 29 

"A MEMORIAL. 

** To tlie honorable, the Members of the Senate and Hottse of Represetitatives of the 
United States, in Congress assembled : 

"Your Memorialists, citizens of the Republic of the United States of America, most 
respectfully beg leave to represent before your honorable Body, that certain physical and 
mental phenomena, of questionable origin and mysterious import, have of late occurred in 
this country, and in almost all parts of Europe, and that the same are now so prevalent, 
especially in the Northern, Middle, and Western sections of the Union, as to engi-oss a 
large share of the public attention. The peculiar nature of the subject to which the Me- 
moi"ialists desire to solicit the attention of your honorable Body, may be inferred from a 
partial analysis of its phenomenal aspects which are imperfectly comprehended in the fol- 
lowing brief generalization : 

" First. An occult force exhibited in sliding, raising, arresting, holding, suspending, and 
otherwise disturbing numerous ponderable bodies, apparently in direct opposition to the 
acknowledged laws of matter, and altogether transcending the accredited powers of the 
human mind, is manifested to thousands of intelligent and discriminating persons, while the 
human senses have hitherto failed to detect to the satisfaction of the public, either the pri- 
mary or proximate causes of these phenomena. 

" Second. Lights of various forms and colors, and of different degi'ees of intensity, appear 
in dark rooms, where no substances exist which are liable to develop chemical action or 
phosphorescent illumination, and in the absence of all the means and instruments whereby 
electricity is generated or combustion produced. 

" Third. Another general class of the phenomenawhich we desire to bring to the notice of 
your august Body, is presented in the variety of sounds which ai-e now extremely frequent 
in their occurrence, widely diversified in their character, and more or less significant in 
their import. These consist, in part, of certain mysterious rappings which appear to indi- 
cate the presence of an invisible intelligence ; sounds such as are occasioned by the prosecu- 
tion of several mechanical and other occupations, are often heard ; there are others which 
resemble the hoarse voices of the winds and waves, with which, occasionally, harsh, creak- 
ing sounds are mingled, similar to those produced by the masts and rigging of a ship whUe 
it is laboring in a rough sea. 

" At times powerful concussions occur, not imlike distant thunder or the discharge of artil- 
lery, accompanied by an oscillatory movement of surrounding objects, and in some instances 
by a vibratory or tremulous motion of the floor of the apartment ; or it may be, of the 
whole house wherein the phenomena occur. 

"On other occasions harmonic sounds are heard as of human voices, but more frequently 
resembling the tones of various musical instruments, among which those of the fife, drum, 
trumpet, guitar, harp and piano have been mysteriously and successfully represented, both 
with and without the instruments ; and in either case, without any apparent human or 
other visible agency. 

" These phenomena appear to depend, so far as regards the process of their production, on 
the acknowledged principles of acoustics. 

" There is obviously a distinction of the sensational medium of the auditory nerves, occa- 
sioned by an undulating movement of the air, though by what means these atmospheric 
undulations are produced does not appear to the satisfaction of acute observers. 

' ' Fourth. All the functions of the human body and mind are often and strangely influenced 
in what appear to be certain abnormal states of the system, and by causes which are neither 
adequately defined nor understood. The invisible power frequently interrupts what we are 
accustomed to denominate the normal operation of the faculties, suspending sensation and 
the capacity for voluntary motion, checking the circulation of the animal fluids, and reduc- 
ing the temperature of the limbs and portions of the body to a death-like coldness and rig- 
idity. Indeed, in some instances respiration is enthely suspended for a season — it may be 

9 



I30 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

for hours or days together — after which the faculties of the mind and functions of the body 
are fully restored. 

"It is, moreover, confidently asserted that these phenomena have been succeeded, in nu- 
merous cases, by permanent mental and physical derangement, and it is positively affirmed 
and believed that many persons who were suffering from organic defects, or from protracted 
and apparently incurable diseases, have been suddenly relieved or entirely renovated by the 
same mysterious agency. 

"It may not be improper to obsei-ve, in this connection, that two general hypotheses 
obtain with respect to the origin of these remarkable phenomena. 

" The one ascribes them to the power and intelligence of departed spiints, operating on 
and through the subtile and imponderable elements which pervade and permeate all material 
forms ; and this, it should be observed, accords with the ostensible claims and pretensions 
of the manifestations themselves. 

"Among those who accept this hypothesis will be found a large number of our fellow-citi- 
zens who are alike distinguished for their moral worth, intellectual powers and attainments, 
as well as for their eminent social position and political influence. 

" Others, not less distinguished in all the relations of life, reject this conclusion, and en- 
tertain the opinion that the acknowledged principles of physics and metaphysics will enable 
scientific inquirers to account for all the facts in a rational and satisfactoiy manner. 
While your memorialists cannot agree on this question, but have honestly arrived at widely 
different conclusions respecting the probable causes of the phenomena herein described, 
they beg leave, most respectfully, to assure your honorable Body, they nevertheless most 
cordially concur in the opinion that the alleged phenomena do really occur, and that their 
mysterious origin, peculiar nature, and important bearing on the interests of mankind de- 
mand for them a patient, thorough, and scientific investigation. 

" It cannot reasonably be denied that the various phenomena to which the memorial 
refers are likely to produce important and lasting results, permanently affecting the physi- 
cal condition, mental development, and moral character of a large number of the American 
people. 

"It is obvious that these occult powers do influence the essential principles of health and 
life, of thought and action, and hence they may be destined to modify the conditions of our 
being, the faith and philosophy of the age, and the government of the world. 

" Moreover, deeming it to be intrinsically proper, and at the same time strictly compatible 
with the cardinal objects and essential spirit of our institutions, to address the representa- 
tives of the people, concei-ning any and every subject which may be fairly presumed 'to 
involve the discovery of new principles, which must or may issue in momentous conse- 
quences to mankind, we, your fellow-citizens, whose names are appended to this memorial, 
earnestly desire to be heard on this occasion. 

"In pursuance, therefore, of the objects contemplated by the present memorialists, and ur 
view of the facts and reasons herein contained or referred to, your fellow-citizens most 
respectfully petition your honorable Body for the appointment of a scientific commission to 
which this subject shall be referred, and for such an appropriation as shall enable the com- 
missioners to prosecute their inquiries to a successful termination. Believing that the pro- 
gress of science and the true interests of mankind will be gixatly promoted by the proposed 
investigation, the undersigned venture to indulge the hope that their requests wUl be 
approved and sanctioned by the wisdom of your honorable Body. 

" And to this end the petitioners will ever pray." 

General Shields having cheerfully undertaken to comply with Governor 
Tallmadge's request, proceeded to execute his commission in the following 
speech, which is a verbatim report from the National Intelligencer of 
Washington, bearing date April, 1854. 

Hon. James Shields said : 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 131 



c< ( ' 



' I beg leave to present to the Senate a petition with some fifteen thousand names 
appended, to it upon a very singular and novel subject. 

" ' The petitioners i-epresent that certain physical and mental phenomena of mysterious 
import have become so prevalent in this country and Europe as to engross a large share 
of public attention." 

"[General Shields then proceeded to give a summary of the principal features of the 
memorial, the reiteration of which would be unnecessary in this place. At the conclusion 
of that portion of his address he proceeded as follows :] 

" ' I have now given a faithful synopsis of this petition, which, however xmprecedented in 
itself, has been prepared with singular ability, presenting the subject with great delicacy and 
moderation. 

" ' I make it a rule to present any petition to the Senate which is respectful in its terms ; 
but having discharged this duty I may be permitted to say that the prevalence of this delu- 
sion at this age of the world among any considerable portion of our citizens must originate, 
in my opinion, in a defective system of education, or in a partial derangement of the mental 
faculties, produced by a diseased condition of the physical organization. I cannot, therefore, 
believe that it exists to the extent indicated in this petition. 

" ' Different ages of the world have had their peculiar delusions. Alchemy occupied the 
Attention of eminent men for several centuries, but there was something sublime in 
alchemy. The philosopher's stone or the transmutation of metals into gold ; the elixir 
vit(2 which would preserve youth and beauty, and prevent old age, decay and death, were 
blessings which poor humanity ardently desired and which alchemy sought to discover by 
perseverance and piety. Roger Bacon, one of the greatest alchemists and greatest men of 
the thirteenth century, while searching for the philosopher's stone, discovered the telescope, 
burning-glasses, and gunpowder. 

" ' The prosecution of that delusion, therefore, led to a number of useful discoveries. In 
the sixteenth century flourished Cornelius Agrippa, alchemist, astrologer, and magician, one 
of the greatest professors of the hermetic philosophy that ever lived. He had all the spirits 
of the air and demons of the earth under his command. 

" ' Paulus Jovius says ' that the devil, in the shape of a large black dog, attended Agidppa 
wherever he went.' Thomas Nash says, at the request of Lord Surrey, Agrippa called 
up from the grave several of the great philosophers of antiquity, amongst others, TuUy, 
who he caused to re-deliver his celebrated oration for Roscius. To please the Emperor 
Charles the Fourth, he summoned King David and King Solomon from the tomb, and 
the Emperor conversed with them long upon the science of government. 

" ' This was a glorious exhibition of spiritual power compared with the significant manifes- 
tations of the present day. I will pass over the celebrated Paracelsus for the purpose of 
making allusion to an Englishman, with whose veracious history every one ought to make 
himself acquainted. 

" 'In the sixteenth century, Dr. Dee made such progress in the talismanic art that he 
acquired ample power to hold familiar conversation with the spirits and angels, and to learn 
from them all the secrets of the universe. On one occasion the angel Uriel gave him a 
black crystal of a convex form, wliich he had only to gaze on intently, and by a strong 
effort of will, he could summon any spirit he wished, to reveal to him the secrets of 
futurity. 

" ' Dee, in his veracious diary, says, 'that one day while he was sitting with Albertus Las- 
kin, a Polish nobleman, there seemed to come out of the oratory a spiritual creature like a 
pretty girl of seven or nine years old, with her hair rolled up before and hanging down 
behind, with a gown of changeable red and green, and a train. She seemed to play in and 
out of the books and up and down, and as she went, the books displaced themselves to make 
way for her. 

" ' This I call spiritual manifestations of the most fascinating kind. Even the books felt 
the influence of this fascinating creature. 

" ' Edward Kelly, an Irishman, who was present and witnessed this beautiful apparition, 
verifies the Doctor's statements therefore it would be unreasonable to doubt a story of which 
the witness was an Irishman. (Laughter). Doctor Dee was the distinguished favorite of 
kings and queens — a proof that spiritual science was held in high repute in the days of 
good Queen Elizabeth. 

" ' But of all the professors of occult science the Rosicrucians were the most exalted and 
refined. With them the philosopher's stone implied the possession of health and happiness, 
command over the service of superior beings, control of the elements, and the most intimate 
knowledge of all the secrets of the universe. These were objects worth striving for. 
The Rosicrucians were disgusted with the gross sensual spirits who had communed with 
man previous to their day, so they decreed their annihilation and substituted in their stead 



132 HISTORY OF MODERN 

a race of mild, beautiful, and beneficent beings. The spirits of the olden times were 
malignant and mischievous, but the new generation is mild and benignant. 

" ' These spirits, as this petition asserts, indulge in the most innocent amusements, as slid- 
ing, raising, tipping tables, producing pleasant sounds and variegated lights ; sometimes curing 
diseases ; and for the existence of this simple and benignant race, our petitioners are justlj 
indebted to the brethern of the ' Rosy Cross.' 

" ' Amongst the modern professors of spiritualistic art, Cagliostro was the most celebrated. 
In Paris his saloons were thronged with the rich and noble, and his charming countess 
gained immense wealth by gi^anting attending sylphs to such ladies as were rich enough to 
pay for their service. 

" ' The ' Biographic des Contempores,' a work which our present mediums ought to con- 
sult with care, says, 'there was hardly a fine lady in Paris who would not sup with the 
shade of Lucretius in the apartments of Cagliostro. There was not a military officer who 
would not discuss the art of war with Ccesar, nor a counsellor who would not argue points 
of law with Cicero.'" 

'"These were spiritual manifestations worth paying for, and our degenerate mediums 
would have to hide their diminished heads in the presence of Cagliostro. 

" ' It would be a curious inquiry to follow this occult science through all its phases of min- 
eral and animal magnetism, etc., until we reach the present and slowest phase of all, spirit-, 
ual iTianifestations ; but I have said enough to show the truth of Buckles's beautiful aphor- 
isru, 'The credulity of dupes is as inexhaustible as the invention of knaves. ' 

" This speech was received with considerable attention, but was frequently interrupted 
by laughter. 

" Mr. Weller — AVhat does the Senator propose to do with the petition? 

"Mr. Petit — I,et it be referred to three thousand clergymen. (Laughter.) 

"Mr. Weller--! suggest that it be referred to the committee on foreign relations. 
(Laughter. ) 

"Mr. Shields — I am willing to agree to the reference. 

"Mr. Weller — It may be that we may have to enter into foreign relations with these 
spirits. (Laughter.) If so, it is a proper subject for the consideration of that committee. 
It may be necessary for Americans to inquire if they lose their citizenship when they leave 
this world. It may be expedient that all these grave questions should be considered by the 
committee on foreign relations, of which I am an humble member. I move its reference to 
that committee. 

"Mr. Mason — I really think it has been made manifest by the honorable Senator who has 
presented the petition, that he has gone further into the subject than any of us. I would, there- 
fore, suggest that it should either go to a select committee on his motion, or be referred to the 
military committee, of which he is chairman. Certainly the committee on foreign relations 
has nothing to do with it. Perhaps it would be better to let the petition lie upon the table. 

" Mi\ Shields — This is an important subject, and should not be sneered away in this 
manner. (Loud laughter.) I was willing to agree to the motion of the Senator from Cali- 
fornia, but I do not wish the petition to go to the committee on foreign relations unless the 
chairman of that committee is perfectly satisfied that he can do the subject justice. (Laugh- 
ter.) 

"I had thought of proposing to refer the matter to the committee on post rffices and 
post roads, because there may be a possibility of establishing a spiritual telegi-aph between 
the material and the spiritual world. (Laughter.) 

" Mr. Mason — I move that the petition lie upon the table. Agi^eed to." 

It is almost unnecessary to state that the conduct of General Shields, in 
following, up the memorial which he had undertaken to present by a speech 
which was calculated to destroy every vestige of interest or importance con- 
tained in that document, excited the just indignation of the memorialists, 
and called forth a scathing protest from Governor Tallmadge. To this Gen- 
eral Shields replied by a few lines of defence on the strictly Congressional 
character of his proceedings. Courtesy, honor, sincerity, a love of science 
or respect for religion, making no part in his conduct on the occasion, of 
course found no place in his defence ; he had acted within the rules and priv- 
ileges of the Seriate, and so the matter terminated. 

The memorial was, as ordered, " laid upon the table ; " but according to 
the law in such cases provided, it is still preserved in the national archives, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 33 

where It remains as an evidence that in those days there were at least fifteen 
thousand persons in the land who were better informed on the philosophy of 
mental science and the high interests of immortality than their elected 
representatives. 

Anotlier movement of important though more local interest to the cause 
of Spiritualism, was the formation of a society in New York City, which was 
chartered under the title of "The Society for the Diftusion of Spiritual Knowl- 
edge." The members hired a building at 553 Broadway, where they designed 
to hold circles, conferences, and discussions, and establish a printing press, 
library, and all the apparatus necessary' for the carrying out of the purposes 
signified in their title. 

The list of names appended to the first year's report includes, as will be 
seen, many of the most distinguished citizens of various States besides New 
York. It must also be noted that several of the more prominent Spiritualists 
of that city did not figure in this list at all. For the year 1854, the follow- 
ing oflicers were appointed : 

PRESIDENT. 

Governor Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, Wisconsin. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Chief Justice Joseph Williams, Iowa. Gen. Edward F. Bullard, New Yorlc, 

Judge Willie P. Fowler, Kentucky. Hon. Richard D. Davis, New Yorlc 

Judge R. P. Spauldi.n'g, Ohio. Dr. George T. Dexter, New Yorlc. 

Judge Chas. H. Larrabee, Wisconsin. Maj. George W. Raixes, U. S. A. 

Horace H. Day, New York. E. W. Bailey, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Warren Chase, Wisconsin. Phineas E. Gay, Massachusetts. 
Dr. David Corey, Illinois. 

SECRETARIES. 

Owen. G. Warren, Architect, New York. Charles C. Woodman, Editor, New York. 
Selah G. Perkins, M.D., Vermont. 

treasurer. 
Nathaniel E. Wood, Chemist, New York, 

Besides these officers, Trustees, Advisory, Executive, and Corresponding 
Committees were formed, including the names of the most prominent and 
respectable citizens in America. The society inaugurated their commence- 
ment by an address, from which the follo\ving extracts will serve as 
examples : 

ADDRESS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE TO 
THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

" But a few short years ago, in an obscure locality, and under circumstances which 
seemed to warrant the belief in an early termination of the so-called dream, Spiiutualism, in 
its present form, was born. Its few advocates, in the early days of its life, wei^e looked 
upon as lunatics — ^were despised for their faith ; and men of respectability and standing in 
society could hardly be found who were willing to examine into the facts connected with the 
alleged phenomena, for fear of the reproach of the entire imbelieving community. Since 
that period. Spiritualism has extended with a rapidity unprecedented in the annals of the 
world, until, to-day, it has become a respectable power in society. Men whose education 
and genius have fitted them for occupying the highest stations, either in politics or in tlie 
churcli, have sacrificed all positions of earthly aggrandizement for the sake of what they 
believe to be the enjoyment of high and holy truth. 

. . " Citizens of the United States, we feel authority for saying that the day for 
raising the cry of humbug, chicanery, or delusion, has passed away forever. You know, all 
of you who have reflective minds, that the application of these terms to this sub' ect can no 



134 HISTORY OF MODERN 

longer produce results ; but that rather these invectives, launched at }'our supposed enemies, 
will rebound upon yourselves, and cover you with shame. Your professed teachers, your men 
in high places, the learned of your universities, the eloquent of your pulpits, have dealt in them 
long enough. And what results have they achieved ? The tlieories which the iniiversitlcs sent 
forth to account for the alleged phenomena, as they were pleased to term them, liave not 
only rendered their authors, but the universities, ridiculous in the minds of intelligent 
men. 

" Your pulpits — and we mean kindly when we speak of them, for they have a holy office, 
whether they perform that office or no — your pulpits have launched forth invectives. The 
cry of delusion and chicanery has been heard all over the land. It produced no effect, ex- 
cept upon the churches themselves ; and that course was abandoned. Policy was now 
adopted; another plan was accepted as the true one for accounting for the spiritual mani- 
festations, and which has been promulgated, not only from the pulpits, but by the religious 
press of this country — namely, that evil spirits have visited the earth, still further to delude 
deluded mortals. 

"It is very strange, if they believe that evil spirits can come to do evil on this earth, that 
good spirits will not be permitted by the good God also to come to effect good purposes ! 
We profess to believe both these propositions. We leave you to examine the subject for 
yourselves, aiid we tell you, if you will render your minds receptive to the truth, and engage 
in the investigation of this subject, it will appear that spirits, botli good and evil, do come 
here upon the earth, among their friends and relatives, and teach them good thmgs and 
bad." 

From causes which we deem it umiecessary to discuss here, this society 
proved but one of numerous illustrations that there is something in the genius 
of Spirituahsm, wliich up to the present time at least, has proved radically op- 
posed to organization. In various sections of the country spiritual organ- 
izations had been tried, and uniformly ended in disappointment and failure ; 
these movements will be more particularly noticed hereafter, but in reference 
to the one under consideration, it is enough to say, its career of a little over 
three years forms no exception to the rule alluded to. The society at 553 
Broadway can scarcely lay claim to have carried out, as a body, any of the 
propositions with whicli they started ; although some very valuable utilitarian 
results were achieved, yet it is but justice to say that such results did not pro- 
ceed from the society, but rather from one of its members, Mr. Horace H. 
Day, a distinguished merchant of the city, whose name was at the head of 
the list of the executive committee. 

Soon after the opening of the building, it assumed a character entirely 
different to that which had been anticipated in its inauguration. A feeling of 
prejudice against the undertaking had been cherished by some of the NeAV 
York Spiritualists, who found themselves excluded from the initiatory councils, 
and " after having borne the heat and burden of the day in the early pioneer 
work of the city," deemed themselves slighted by those who had " come into 
the vineyard at comparatively the eleventh hour." 

These and similar statements were made to the prejudice of the society in 
its first sessions, but after the usual experimental period had elapsed, and es 
pecially after it was proved that as an association the movement could not 
be considered a success, its promoters and opposers, each alike returned to 
the fulfilment of the special work their hands found to do, and the undertak- 
ing bravely and faithfully sustained, as before hinted, by Mr. Horace H. Day, 
put into action the following instrumentalities : A paper was started, entitled 
The Christian Spiritualist. A limited subscription list, but a very large gra- 
tuitous circulation, enabled this paper for three years to become a missionary 
for a wide-spread field of usefulness. Miss Kate Fox was engaged at a liberal 
salary to hold daily seances through rapping, writing, and the phases of mcdi- 
umship peculiar to her, at which the pubhc were admitted free each morning 
from ten till one. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 13S 

A library of all the spiritual works, foreign and native, that could be pro- 
cured was kept for sale and circulation, under the charge of Mr. Munson. 
A printing office was also established on the premises, and the use of a hand- 
some room was generously presented to Mrs. Emma Hardinge, who had 
become converted to Spiritualism shortly after her arrival from England, and 
in zeal for the cause of her new faith had resolved to devote her powers as a 
test medium, gratuitously to the service of the public. 

In this building, then, two test mediums Avere to be found, at the command 
of all who sought them, without money or without price. It is not too much 
to assert that thousands who brought with them guilty consciences, broken 
hearts, and darkened minds, entered the rooms of Kate Fox and Emma Har- 
dinge to quit them with renewed purposes for good, strengthened and con- 
soled by the ministry of angels, and convinced of the sublime truths of 
immortality. The fact that this bread of life, too, was dispensed without the 
usual sordid incentives to action which necessity too often compels the poor 
spirit medium to resort to, in exchange for time, which is bread, made a pro- 
found impression on those who thronged these circle rooms, and induced a 
natural feeling of confidence in the disinterestedness of the source from 
whence the power came. 

It seems here essential to the thread of the history to record a few ciixum- 
stances in the mediumship of one who has since played a prominent part in 
the spiritual movement, and therefore as much for the sake of fidelity in his- 
tory as in response to the repeated solicitations of her friends and fellow- 
workers, the author will introduce a few extracts from her own life, or " Au- 
tobiographical Sketches by Emma Hardinge," spiritual lecturer, and the me- 
dium above alluded to. 

"At this juncture [1S55], to beguile the tedium and monot- 
ony of my life, I suffered myself to be taken to a strange, unheard-of thing or person — 
I hardly "tcnew which — called a "medium.' I wanted amusement, which was one reason 
for my investigation ; I wanted to carry back to Europe with me subjects for racy 
articles on America, for the benefit of certain journals to which I was a contributor, and 
this was a second reason ; and nothing I had heard of since my residence m America [all 
of which I of course deemed could be comprehended in six months of New York experi- 
ence] struck me as so eminently ridiculous, and illustrative of the technical phrase, ' Yan- 
kee notions,' as the daring hmnbug which pretended to give communications from heaven 
itself. 

"Let any of my readers educated in strict orthodox faith, recall their early theologic opin- 
ions concerning ghosts, death, resurrection, heaven, hell, spirits, and angels, and even then 
they will form but a faint conception of a rather piously-inclined young English girl's hor- 
ror when informed that souls in bliss descended from their bright abodes to make tables 
dance ; and that angels left ' the throne of God' to say their alphabets to earth, and tell 
its inhabitants the price of stocks and the best time to buy and sell ! 

" At first I heard of ' the thing' with unmitigated horror and indignation. 

" Becoming familiarized with what they said about ' the spirits,' much of which I heard 
from some persons with whom I boarded and certain of my professional visitors, I subsided 
from religious horror into the certainty of its being some gross and clumsy species of magic 
and though I still felt indignant at the pretense of associating this with anything so sacred 
as an immortal soul, I thought I might learn some characteristics of the people from the 
so-called Spiritualists, even more daringly impudent in trick and folly than Barnum and 
his 'What Is It: 

"It was in such a frame of mind, and with such views as these, that I consented to 
investigate the subject of Spu-itualism. 

"Under such a stimulus to search, I accompanied one of my fellow-boarders to the 
rooms of Mr. J. B. Conklin. A large party was assembled there, every one of whom 
was — in singular contrast to a similar assemblage of English people — very pale, ard, as I 
deeme 1, from that circumstance, rather ghost-like. 

" This was a good beginning, and suggested ideas of mystics wan and worn with midnight 



136 HISTORY OF MODERN 

vigils amongst the dead. Presently I heard some of those sitting at the table talkS:g 
familiarly with iiotliing, and responded to by very rnde and clumsy gyrations of llic table. 
Amused at tliis proceeding, which really looked as if those deluded ones were in earnest, 
I quietly directed my attention to the table, and, though unable at the time to discover 
the machinery by which it was moved, I knew it was there. I knew it just as certainly as 
did Mr. Farraday, Sir David Brewster, and the Harvard Professors, in their investigations 
with tables, and from the same reliable source, too — a source common to us all — namely, 
our own insufferable self-conceit and untractable prejudices. 

"All passed off well, however, until a sentence was 'spelled out,' which seemed to me to 
comment irreverently on the Bible. This was enough. I don't know now, even what the 
sentence was. I did not know then, whether the sentence was true or false. It was sufficient 
for me, that the ' Ploly Word of God' was lightly spoken of in that company of 'ghouls,' 
and that I impiously sat by to hear it. The next moment I was in the street, and that 
night, with tearful petitions to Heaven for forgiveness in daring to hear — I did not know 
what — and solemn promises never again to listen to anything about the Bible but the book 
itself, I dropped to sleep, fervently resolving never again to visit so blasphemous a place as 
a ' spirit circle ;' a promise I kept for the space of a whole week. And so ends the first 
chapter in my spiritual experience." 

Mrs. Hardinge was already a natural medium, and endowed with the fa- 
culties essential to the control of spirits. Her "resolution" was her own, 
her destiny under the influence of the unseen power that had led her across 
the ocean, to the Continent of America, and up through the most marvellous 
vicissitudes of life and fortune to this hour. 

Here, then, the hold was not relaxed. An actress at the Broadway Theatre, 
she became acquainted with Mr. Augustus Fenno, vv'ho, like many other 
members of the theatrical profession, was a warm Spiritualist and an excel- 
lent trance and writing medium. At his suggestion, Mrs. Hardinge consented 
to visit Mrs. Coan, a young married lady, who had lately arrived in New 
York and established herself as a test, rapping, writing, and clairvoyant 
medium. 

At the time of Mrs. Hardinge' s first visit, Mrs. Coan was giving seances 
to the public of New York, and was only introduced to her visitor by Mr. 
Fenno, as '■'■Miss Emma Hardinge [so known in public], from England." 

[Here follows a brief description of this seance, the insertion of which will 
illustrate the charcter of what was then known as " test mediumship."] 

" My friend Mr. Augustus Fenno, so captivated me with the promise of revelations 
through ' the raps,' and assurances that spirit-rappings were rarely of a theological charac- 
ter, that I consented to accompany him to visit the novz-celebrated Miss Ada Hoyt.* 

"Dire were the misgivings with which I set out on this second investigation, and intense 
the disgust with which the cool indifference of Miss Hoyt's manner inspired me. A me- 
dium for departed spirits, I thought, should be, if not saintly, witch-like in appearance ; if 
not ecstatic in gesture and speech, weird-like and fantastic ; and so the perfectly plaua 
matter-of-fact characteristics of this live medium threw me fairly hors dn combat. 

" Arrived there, however, I scorned to retreat ; and yet if dislike and determined 
scepticism could have an invariably neutralizing effect on spiritual manifestations, I could 
not at this day be writing my spiritual experiences. 

"I have too often marvelled at the foolish verbosity which induces people to rehearse 
over the tests they have received, and read whole pages of purely personal communications to 
others entirely uninterested, to inflict the same penalty on my readers; let it suffice, then, 
to state that I rose up after a two hours' seance with Miss Hoyt, having received all the or- 
dinary tests of name, age, death, etc., from almost every relative and i'ricnd. I had in the 
spirit-world. And those obstinate, clear raps came, not only on the table and under it, 
but on the walls, my chair, following my footsteps around the room, and in every conceivable 
way that could assure me they were not produced by machinery connected either with the 
table or the person of the medium. Thus far I was satislied— that is to say, of the entire 

* Mrs. Coan. This lady has shice been more generally known by her maiden name of Ada Iloyt. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 137 

absence of any imposture or delusion. Miss Hoyt, to my inexpressible disgust, assured me 
that I was myself 'a gi'eat medium,' an expression reiterated through the raps by the in- 
visibles; hence, she asserted, the manifestations were more than usually clear and abundant; 
certain it is that the chief of my questions were unspoken, and, therefore, responded to by 
some intelligence capable of reading my mind. 

"Tills, together wi:h the number of names and trivial circumstances of identity that 
were volunteered by the rappers, deprived me of the remotest chance of attributing the 
communications to the minds of any one present, including my own. This saance termi- 
nated with instructions for me 'to sit for communications' through myself, a proposition 
as startling to me as it was embarrassing, since the idea of my puttmg myself in an attitude 
of preparation for the performances of ghosts, opened up to me a train of proba- 
bilities beginning with the Witch of Endor, and concluding with the Devil and Dr. 
Faustus. 

" Returned home, the confession of my second visit to a medium drew from my mother 
a mild but emphatic declaration that, although she had hitherto followed my erratic footsteps 
over the wide world, and was still ready to shelter me, even in disgrace, or accompany me, 
if needs were, to the gi'ave, yet for this horrible and blasphemous subject she had no sym- 
pathy, and should I still persist in its investigation, I might prepare to see her depart for 
England by the next ship ; for beneath the roof where such abominations were practiced, 
she never would consent to stay. 

"Finding that I was far more disposed to echo her sentiments than oppose them, my 
mother next inquired of me the result of the weird interview I had come from. In answer, 
I read her, without comment, the questions and answers that formed the seance, together 
with the notes, in full, of the whole scene, and then it was that plain common sense tri- 
umphed over bigotry and prejudice. The latter amiable qualities with which, I believe, I 
was liberally endowed, blinded my eyes to the reasonableness of attributing all the mass of 
intelligence my notes revealed to its true source ; but when my unprejudiced, common-sense 
mother luard precious little sentences read, and tests rehearsed, too clearly identical with 
her son, husband, father, and dearest. relatives, to be by any possibility mistaken for others, 
and when by plain straight-forward questions she succeeded in eliciting from me a perfect 
detail of the wliole scene, her reason recognized the spiritual truth as the only solution of 
the problem, and after making nle go over and over again the instructions I had received 
as to sitting at a table for development, she closed this cliapter of my spiritual experience 
by placing a small table before me, and Irerself and a young lady, at that time visiting us, on 
the opposite side, with our three pairs of hands solemnly spread out on its surface, and 
there, in awful silence, we sat 'waiting for the spirits.'" 

"For many succeeding days at every available leisure moment we continued this mystical 
arrangement, sometimes with our simple trio, and occasionally joined by other marvel- 
seekers of our own stamp. We were 'waiting for the spirits,' and as I imagined the only 
mode of obtaining spiritual communications was by raps or tips, and neither of these forms 
v/ere manifested, so I deemed we v>'aited in vain. IVIeantime I was perplexed and my friends 
alarmed by the singular effect of these sittings on myself If the table did not move of it- 
self, it kept up a perpetual St. Vitus's dance in vibration to my own involuntary inovements, 
especially of my resistless, constantly twitching hands, poundings, jerkings, grimacings and 
all the formuL-e of physical development, succeeding each other with such violence and ra- 
pidity that I should soon have come to the conclusion that I was completely bewitched, had 
I not fortunately received a visit from a gentleman well versed in these preliminary medi- 
umistic eccentricities. 

"From him I learned that there were many other spiritual gifts besides those I had wit- 
nessed, and in a course of exercises which this high priest put me through, he pronounced 
me to be a fine 'magnetic, psychologic, sympathetic, clairvoyant, clairaudicnt,' and every 
other kind of fine subject generally, concluding with the promise to take- me to a celebrat- 
ed public medium, through whose influence, he felt confident, I should be 'developed 
right away.' 

"In proof of the excessive distrust that possessed my mind at this time, I replied to this 
latter offer, that I would go, provided he would take me then and there, without, as I 
thought, allowing any time or opportunity for collusion ; for, uncertain what the process of 
'development' might be, or what fearful changes I might suffer by becoming a medium, I 
at least resolved to march to the sacrifice with my eyes open. My friend, no doubt appre- 
hending the nature of my very flattering distrust of himself, good-naturedly repHed that he 
would just step over to his store and return at once and fetch me. But I would go with 
him, and go with him I did, carefully watching him to see that he did not write some secret 
paper to be slipped into some one's hand with mysterious instructions to do some unknown 
thing with me ; and so carefully did I scrutinize every look, word, and movement, t'nat I 
could have testified on oath that 1 never lost sight of my conductor for one smgle instant, 



138 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

until I stood with him in an upper room in Broadway, where a large party were already 
gathered together to hold a circle with Mrs. Kellogg, one of the best test mediums I ever 
had the good fortune to meet, and withal an accomplished and interesting lady." 

[The lady here referred to as Mrs. Kellogg was one of the best public mediums in the 
city. She had rooms in Broadway where visitors were received at stated periods, and from 
whence sceptics by thousands went away convinced through her inimitable gifts as a clair- 
voyant, writing, seeing, and speaking medium. Her interview with Emma liardinge exer- 
cised so marked an effect upon the author's subsequent career in the cause of Spiritualism, 
that it is deemed in place to insert the extract in full from her "Autobiographical Sketches."] 

"Let the reader who followed me to the house of this lady, where, according to my 
friend's promise I was to be 'developed right away,' imagine a person totally ignorant of 
the meaning of this phrase, finding herself in a room full of strangers, in vague anticipation 
of some mild kind of surgical operation, by which a rational being in a perfectly natural 
state of existence was suddenly to be converted into a modern prototype of the woman of 
Endor. Awaiting my mysterious fate with direful misgivings, 1 was suddenly addressed by 
the lady medium — to whom, by my own request, I had no introduction, and from whose 
notice I had sedulously shrunk away — -with the words 'Come here and sit with me; you are 
a great medium.' Obedient to her commanding gestures, I seated myself at the magic ta- 
ble, when the lady began rubbing my hand with considerable energy, but complaining all 
the while that I wore a silk dress. Why I should not do so was more than I could divine ; 
but before I could even arrange a question in words to this effect, a strange, misty sensation 
came over me, which so completely obscured my faculties that an endeavor to recall who I 
was, and where, only ended in convincing me that I was a highly-respectable old gentleman, 
in which character I gave what I was afterwards informed were some remarkable person- 
ating tests of spirit identity to several strangers in the room. To recapitulate the events 
and sensations of that evening — the first of my test mediumistic experience — would be 
neither possible nor. profitable. It is enough to record that the touch of Mrs. Kellogg's 
hand appeared like a magician's wand, illuminating the latent fires of magnetic power, which, 
once enkindled, ever after burned in the steady light of mediumistic gifts. 

" During the three-hours seance of that evening, it was found that I could give tests of 
spirit identity by personations, impressions, writing, and automatic movements of my fingers 
over the alphabet. All present seemed much more interested in this sudden and unexpected 
development than myself, its subject, who, to confess the truth, was so bewildered with my 
own marvellous performances, besides being half the time lost in the identity of the spirits 
who were influencing me, that I was far more disposed to question my own identity than 
that of any of the spirits I was said to represent. 

" The experience of most investigators in the spiritual philosophy has sho^\m that no tests 
are thoroughly convincing to individual minds, which are not addressed to the individual's 
own knowledge and reason ; hence, all I did by way of convincing others that night would 
have failed to impress myself with any other belief than that of an unnatural and foreign 
influence upon me, had not some of the tests been addressed to myself in automatic writing, 
which, though produced by my own hand — being written upside down, and requiring to be 
held up to the light for perusal— convinced me my own mind was not the originator of the 
sentences. 

" One of these contained simply these words — ' TOM — Find a great sea-snake ! ' 

"The name of an only and idolized brother was here written, and with it, the last words 
I ever heard him utter on earth ; namely, a charge that I — a singer — would find for him the 
words of an old sea-song, of which he was passionately fond, and which he had begged me to 
learn to sing for his gratification. He spoke this sentence as he was departing on his last 
earthly voyage, from which he never came bade again. 

" These utterances of the lost sailor-boy were forgotten, in the whirlwind of grief for his 
death, far, far, at sea, which swallowed up all minor details, until, after an absence of ten 
years, what I had been taught to believe the impassable gulf of eternity stood revealed before 
me, as a bridge, on which stood my beloved and lost, smilingly repeating that sentence, — too 
trifling to have been preserved in the solemn archives of death-memories, but too surely iden- 
tical with the precious dead to be repeated by any but liis own very self. 

"In scornful unbelief of the power I was investigating, I had said to my conductor, 
before entering the circle room, ' If all you tell me of SpirituaUsm be true, and they succeed 
in making me one of these wonderful mediums, I will return to England and make my for- 
tune. ' 

" Late in the evening, automatic writing, through my own hand, purporting to come from 
my spirit father, assm^ed me I was a fine medium ; that I must use my gifts, as such, for the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 139 

\ 

brnefit of the world, but — repeating my o■^^^l careless words — that, so far from using thosa 
gifts to make my fortune, I was never to take fee or reward for mediumship, nor would the 
spirit communicating release me from the strong control in which I was held, until I made 
pledges before the witnesses then present, first, that I would devote my gifts to the service 
of others ; and next, that I would not take fee or reward for the same. As this was not the 
custom of my Irostess, who was a professional medium — neither was it my own views in 
the matter — this charge could have been no emanation from either her mind or mine. 
And, in justice to the many self-sacrificing mediums, who have resigned other and more 
lucrative employments to give their services to the public in return for fees so modest that 
they, too often, fail to supply the wants of those who demand them, I must here add that 
the objection of my spirit friends to taking pay for mediumship was special to my own-case. 

" It seemed they perceived in me the capacity to exercise many forms of medumship, all of 
which they desired should simply be used as means to prepare me for being a lecturer — a destiny 
which I should then have contemplated with so much disgust that, if apprised of it, I should, 
in all probability, have ceased my investigations at once. But, though the reasons were not 
then given me, I have since learned to appreciate the excellence and wisdom of the advice. 

" By not becoming a professional medium, I neither felt anxiety to please my sitters nor 
temptation to impose when the power failed me. Besides this, I passed through many 
phases too rapidly to be available as a stereotyped test medium for any special gift, and thus 
I had the happiness of doing good and conferring spiritual light upon those who sought me, 
beside gaining a vast range of experience and unfettered practice, which has been, and stlH 
is, of incalculable use to me as a teacher of the spiritual philosophy. 

" All this I can now perceive ' face to face ; ' tliough then, I may truly say, I could only 
'see as in a glass, darkly.' 

" [As many contradictory statements have been circulated respecting the first mediumistic 
prophecies of the loss of the ship Pacific, which excited much indignation from the owner 
when first hazarded, but were as carefully as possible stifled after the prophecy was found 
to be correct, we shall here insert the narrative, as originally recorded by the author :] 

" I mentioned in a former paper that I had come to this country in the steamship Pacific, 
one of the Collins line. Ever since my arrival in America I had maintained a kindly inter- 
course with some of the officials of the ship, between whom and myself little offices of friend- 
ship were exchanged every time she came into port. The ship Pacific was due on the mem- 
orable day when I became developed as a medium. 

"On Wednesday I went down to the wharf in the hope of receiving a little package that 
was to be sent me from England in charge of the storekeeper, an officer between whom, 
my mother, and myself, the most kindly acquaintance had been kept up ever since our landing. 

"The ship had not arrived, and no tidings were received of her ; but as she was only 
due some thirty hours [the season rendered it likely that winter storms would occasion the 
delay of even some days] no anxiety was felt in consequence. I mentioned the circum- 
stance to my mother, but beyond a slight expression of regret, neither of us commented on 
the matter. 

" That evening, just as my mother and myself were about to retire for the night, a sud- 
den and unusual chill crept over me, and an irresistible impression possessed my mind that 
a spirit had come into our presence. A sensation as if water was streaming over me ac- 
companied the icy chilliness I experienced, and a feeling of indescribable terror possessed 
my whole being. I begged my mother to light up every lamp we had at hand ; then to 
open the door that the proximity of people in the house outside our room might aid to dis- 
sipate the horror that seemed to pervade the very air. At last, at my mother's suggestion, 
I consented to sit at the table, with the alphabet we had provided turned from me and to- 
ward her, so tliat she could follow the involuntary movements of my finger, which some 
power seemed to guide in pointmg out the letters. In this way was rapidly spelled out, 
<■ Philip Smith : Ship Pacific' 

"As that was the name of the storekeeper for whom I had been only that day inquiring, 
our curiosity and interest were now considerably excited. For a few moments this mode of 
manifestation ceased, and to my horror, I distinctly felt an icy cold hand lay hold of my 
arm ; then distinctly, and visibly to my mother's eyes, something pulled my hair, which was 
hanging in long curls ; all the while the coldness of the air increasing so painfully that the 
apartment seemed pervaded by Arctic breezes. After a while my own convulsed hand was 
moved tremblingly but very rapidly to spell out, ' My dear Emma, I have come to tell you 
I am dead. Tlie ship Pacific is lost, and all on board have perished ; she and her crew will 
never be heard from more.' 

"I need not remind my readers that this statement, though made witliin too short a time 



l(l.o ' HISTORY OF MODERN 

f;"oni tlie day when slie was due, to permit of the least anxiety to be felt on her account, 
V7as strictly verified by subsequent results. The ship Pacific and her ill-fated cre^v were 
never heard from more ; and despite the indignant threats of prosecution that the owners 
made against the 'impostors' who dared to predict lier loss on the faith of spiritual com- 
munications, which both myself and others to whom I named tlie facts did not scruple to re- 
peat, Phillip Smitli and some few of his fellow-sufferers, in their messages from tlie harbor 
which happily sheltered their enfranchised spirits, were the only revclators tliat ever lifted 
the awful veil of doom from their ocean grave. From this time, and during a period of eigh- 
teen months, I sat constantly for all who sought my services as a test medium for a great 
variety of manifestations. These followed in rapid succession, each one practicing my whole 
frame in a striking and powerful manner. I frequently saw spirits with great distinctness, 
describing them with accuracy, and conversing with them as I did Avith my fellow-mortals. 
I wrote in various ways, automatically and by impression, spoke in various conditions of 
trance and semi-consciousness ; became a psychometrist, partly clairvoyant, and occasion- 
ally a physician: in fact, with the exception of boisterous physical manifestations, or that 
which I coveted beyond all else — the raps— it is impossible to name a phase of mediumship 
through which I did not pass, and in which I was not fully and powerfully exercised." . . 

In the first issues of the new paper — the Christian Spiritualist — Professor 
Toohey was the editor, and it was conducted by him with a talent and ability 
which secured a high and well-deserved reputation for its pages. On I\Ir. 
Toohey' s withdrawal, the chief duty of filling its columns with editorial matter 
and the spiritualistic tidings of the day devolved upon Mr. Munson, Emma 
Hardinge, and a few voluntary contributors, by whom the work was sustained 
until its termination. 

The building was still publicly associated with the pretentious array of 
names which constituted " the society," but, with the exception of the per- 
sons designated above and Mr. Horace Day, who nobly defrayed from his 
own private purse the heavy burden attending the publication of the paper, 
the rent of the building and payment of the officials, the society had viritually 
ceased to exist. 

Still the work that its inauguration accomplished can scarcely be estimated. 
The office at 553 formed a nucleus where friends and strangers could as- 
semble together, interchange ideas and greetings, read the papers, buy or 
borrow all the spiritual literature of the day, and attend the circles lield in 
different apartments of the building. During one of the most exciting presi- 
dential elections that had marked the country's history, circles were held in 
that house whose influence went forth and pervaded every State in the Union. 

The influence which the spiritual world exerts over the natural can never 
be properly understood and appreciated until the intimate relations subsisting 
between them are fully comprehended ; meantime, the communion of spirits 
with mortals discloses the nature and operation of those relations, and in this 
respect, the revelations that have been made concerning the political destiny 
of the country, the plans that have been foreshadowed, the prophetic visions 
that have been mapped out with minutest precision, the predestined scheme 
of the untried ftiture, and the action that spirits have in some instances re- 
qiured of and through their mediums for the outworking of the Divine plan, 
would, if it were prudent to reveal it, throw a marvellous and truly supra-mun- 
dane illumination over the wild and terrible drama that has been enacted on 
the American continent during the last ten years, and stfll more on the events 
of deep and universal interest that are yet to overrule the destinies of the 
great New World. 

Beyond entailing odium and suspicion on those wliose efforts would be 
most injuriously affected thereby, such revelations would be of compara- 
tively more detriment tlian benefit. Yet it is essential to the full assertion of 
the claims of Spuituahsm that we should allude to a subject, the purport of 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 141 

which many of our readers will understand. Many and many are those who 
know how for long months prior to their public issue, State documents, and 
Congressio7ial ordinances existed in the secret archives of an tcnconsidered spirit 
circle. Many are the eyes that will glance over these pages, that have seen the 
wires of the national machinery pulled by invisible hands, and some few there 
are who know that a mightier Congress than that ^^iiich sits at Washington 
has helped to lay the foundations of the New World's destiny in the spirit- 
circle rooms of 553 Broadway. 

It was in May, 1857, that the Spiritual Telegraph announced the close of 
the career of the CJiristian Spiritualist, and with it, of the ofhces and spiritual 
functions which had been performed in connection with it at 553 Broadway. 

The notice which records the termination of this mission is embodied in the 
following simple sentence : 

"CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST DISCONTINUED. 

" The closing number of the third volume of the Christian Spirihialist, published on the 
2d inst., comes to us with the announcement that its course is now finished. Its publication, 
as it states, ' commenced with the Society for the Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge, and 
ends with it.' We are sorry that we shall hereafter be deprived of its weekly visits. During 
the last year more particularly, we have regarded the Spiritualist as among the most valu- 
able of our spiritual publications. 

"It has been supported chiefly by the munificence of one individual, who, during the last 
three years, has expended no less than $25,000 upon it and other matters pertaining to the 
cause, connected with the office of its publication, thus displaying a zeal worthy of all com- 
mendation. 

" Tlie movement of which this paper was but the least part, has set in motion a living 
chain of influences which will continue to girdle the western continent until America shall 
cease to be." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW Y O RK — C ONTI NUED. 

"How pure in heart and sound in head. 

With what divine affections bold. 
Should be the man whose thoughts would hold 
An hour's communion with the dead." 

Tennyson. 

Professor Mapes and nis Methods of Investigatiox — Reverend C. H. 
Harvey — Close of the "Spiritual Telegraph." 

As the experiences of remarkable personages form the most instructive of 
items in spiritual histoiy, we shall here insert a few memoranda supplied to the 
Banner of Light by the late Professor Mapes, a gentleman scarcely less dis- 
tinguished in the world of science as an agricultural chemist than was Professor 
Hare in the department of electricity. 

Professor Mapes was a friend and contemporary of Dr. Hare's, and like him 
was strongly in favor of rendering for all phenomena, whether of the visible 
or invisible universe, a simply material explanation. 

The professor's attention having been directed tOAvards the spiritual 
manifestations, he at first treated them with the scathing rebuke which 
was so often administered by those who had not investigated the sub- 
ject ; but when he found that many of his associates in science as well as 
social life were deeply immersed in this "modern magic," he determined to 
bring his acute mind to bear upon the matter sufficiently to redeem his 



142 • HISTORY OF MODERN" 

friends, who, " though otherwise respectable men," were on this point, he de- 
clared, " fast running to mental seed and imbecility." 

The experiences into which this benevolent purpose led him, would not be 
sufficiently remarkable to justify their reproduction in these pages, were it 
not that they present a striking instance of patience and conformity to re- 
quired conditions in seeking phenomena through the spirit circle. In these 
respects, a glance at the diary of the learned professor will amply repay the 
trouble of perusal. The following extracts are taken from the Banner of 
Light, the Spiritual Telegraph, and New York Conference, wherein Profes- 
sor Mapes is reported under the cognomen either of "Phoenix" or "An Old 
Spiritualist." 

The first of his printed articles simply contains a sketch, in the third per- 
son, of his sceptical opinions, and materialistic philosophy on the subject of 
" Spiritualism." The second extract is as follows : 

BANNER OF LIGHT.— NEW YORK, MARCH 12, 1859. 
AN OLD SPIRITUALIST — NUMBER II. 

" In our last article of this series, we gave some account of our friend Phcenix, and 
now propose to fulfil the promises there made. He had heard of Spiritualism and had 
attended many circles, in most of which he found persons predisposed to belief; mediums 
who practiced deceit, and minds so fond of the marvellous as to translate the clumsy 
dreamings of visionaries into divine aspirations. Night after night passed away without 
anything having occurred that was calculated to convince him that mediums v/ere con- 
trolled by spirits. The manifestations which seem to have been satisfactory to many others 
were not so to him. Still, occasionally he met friends who recited manifestations, which 
seemed to be above dispute, of a character far beyond what he himself had witnessed, and 
thus he was tempted to continue to meet with circles, notwithstanding his own want of suc- 
cess. On one particular evening, however, when seated at the opposite end of the table 
with a medium and some friends whom he had brought with him, he plainly felt the touch 
of hands upon his knees and feet. His unexpressed thoughts were answered in the affirma- 
tive by three touches of the spirit hand, one touch for no, and five for the alphabet. 
Upon repeating this inaudibly to the audience, letters were selected by the spirit hand, 
which, upon being written down by himself, spelt out consecutive sentences containing facts 
only known to himself and to the supposed commimicator. Indeed, on this particular evening 
every question and answer from all parties present seemed to be consecutive and full of in- 
telligence. He therefore held the following dialogue with the spirits, they answering by raps : 
Q. How shall I be able to satisfy myself as to the truth of Spiritualism ? A. Form a 
circle of twelve individuals ; employ the best medium you can get, and continue your sit- 
tings until you can procure information of a character that will not be distasteful to you. 
Have six positive and six negative minds. Q. What do you mean by positive and negative 
minds ? A. Six male and six female minds. Q. Do you mean six ladies and six gentle- 
men? A. No; by a positive or male mind we mean such an one as your friend O., who 
is eccentric, and decides upon the propriety of his own acts without advising with his 
friends. If he wished to buy a house, he would do so without your approval. If advised 
by his physician, he would follow such advice only to the extent that he could comprehend 
it. This is what we call a male or positive mind. A female or negative mind is such as 
requires the advice of its friends before action of any kind ; it is not self-sufficient, is want- 
ing in executive power, and readily swayed by conventionalisms. Both these classes of 
mind ai^e necessary for an effective circle. When you have met twenty nights, you will 
have no further difficulty in inducing your friends to continue their sittings. 

" Phcenix determined to follow these directions, and as the spirits had told him that the 
negative minds might be believers or not, just as he chose, he had no difficulty in forming 
this half of his circle. It was recommended, however, that the positive minds should not 
be believers, and with these he had much difficulty. The first party to whom he applied 
was his friend F. Mc.C, who flatly refused, and said, 'You'll disgrace yourself with this 
nonsense.' Phcenix m-ged that, to oblige him, he would spend twenty nights in any way, 
and eventually F. McC. agreed to stand the torture every Monday night for twenty 
weeks. When O. was applied to he laughed outright, but eventuaUy compromised the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 143 

affair for the twenty nights, assuring Phoenix that on the twenty-first Monday he shoiild be 
absent. With gi-eat difficulty the six positive minds were found. Mrs. Brown was selected 
as the medium, and the circle commenced. 

"For the first eighteen nights both questions and answers were extremely stupid. The 
only curious phenomenon was the raps, and with all the theories of snapping of toe and laiee 
joints, rubbing the ball of the toe on the sole of the boot, electricity, and all the other 
theories which had been from time to time advanced, the six positive minds were divided ; 
but with the negatives it was affirmed there was a marvellous fitness in many of the replies, 
although the positive minds did not admit it. 

" On the nineteenth night the tables were somewhat turned. Phoenix had been lam- 
pooned by his associates, and when they came together on this evening, both himself and 
positive friends agi^eed that, after one more night of mummery, they would drop the whole 
affair. The inquiry about the raps had lost its interest, and although the replies had been 
somewhat consecutive, they had given no indication of talent commensurate with the deske 
of at least six of the circle. The medium had not yet entered the room, when, in a sort 
of "lark," five sheets of paper were placed on the floor, and one or two lead-pencils laid 
on each. The medium entered and took her seat ; the circle was organized as usual. In a 
few moments the pencils were all heard distinctly writing. One of the positive members 
looked below the table-cloth, and insisted that he saw all the pencils standing upright, and 
that they fell as soon as he had seen them. The sheets were lifted from the floor, and 
were found to contain many names, clearly written. The party for whom these names 
were intended was selected by the spirits, through the raps, and in every case the positive 
friends were compelled to admit that these names were truly correct as those of their 
gi'andfathers, fathers, mothers, etc., who were in the spirit-world. Phoenix was selected 
by the spirits to ask questions on that evening, and the answers were all pertinent and in- 
structive. On the twentieth evening [the following Monday], every member of the circle 
had their chairs slightly pulled from the table while sitting on them. Raps occurred every- 
where. A guitar placed under the table was played upon, while resting alternately on the 
knees of every member of the circle. A harmonicon placed under the table, at a point 
furthest from the medium, was beautifully played, only two of the members knowing it was 
under the table, they being the first who- came into the room, and brought the instrument 
and placed it there. A tumbler had been placed on the floor at the same time. Late in 
the evening a handful of coin was thrown on the floor, and then piled up inside the tumbler, 
without noise. The room was well lighted with gas, and the hands of the circle were 
placed on the top of the table. Even the positive members agreed to continue their sit- 
tings, and the same circle sat for more than four years, once each week." 

Manifestations of a far more astounding character than any recorded in 
this initiatory investigation were afterwards witnessed by Professor Mapes, 
through a great number of mediums, amongst whom the author has fre- 
quently been invited to sit for the learned "savant," and has partaken with 
him of the most elevating and convincing evidence of the direct presence 
and control of a vast number and variety of spirits ; indeed it seemed as if 
the noblest minds of the invisible Avorld delighted to answer the appeals of 
tliis powerful yet captious investigator with all sorts of convincing methods 
of proving their presence. Honest, fearless, and unremitting in his search 
into this wondrous realm of untrodden science, the professor was constantly 
rewarded by brilliant suggestions which, to his quick apprehension, formed 
threads leading him into paths of new discovery, both in mental and 
physical science. 

None can bear more grateful testimony to this fact than the author, who 
was frequently selected by the professor for investigations of a highly occult 
or scientific character, when the results invariably attested the truth of the 
homely proverb that " like attracts like ;" and whereas his inquiring mind 
sought for the highest ideality to match his own, he obtained such responses 
as were worthy the spirit of his inquiry. 

The circle alluded to in the preceding extracts continued its session, aj 
we have stated, for several years. Nearly all its members were men of 
science and public influence; all of them, including Professor Mapes • 



144 HISTORY OF MODERN 

became converts to, and powerful advocates of Spiritualism. Added to this, 
the wife of Professor Mapes, a lady advanced in life, became suddenly developed 
as a most wonderful drawing medium. Without any previous knowledge of 
the art, Mrs. Mapes executed, in a raai-vellously rapid manner, and under cir- 
cumstances of the most abnormal character, several tJiousand water-color draw- 
ings, which, for originality of design and beauty of execution, stand unrivalled 
as works of art, a gallery in themselves, on vdiich the most fastidious and 
highly instructed artists of the day have pronounced the verdict of faultless. 

Amongst the strange occurrences which gave tokens of the presence and 
influence of spirits, the following incident may be taken as an illustration of 
a number of similar cases, transpiring in different parts of the country. 

SPIRITUAL ADVERTISER — NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 12, 1857. 

"A strange, and somewhat startling demonstration of spirit power occurred at the Stuy- 
vesant Institute, in this city, on Wednesday evening of last week, at the commencement of 
an attempt to dehver a lecture by Rev. C. H. Harvey. It should be premised that this is 
the same Mr. Harvey who, several years ago, wrote a valuable pamphlet, entitled "The 
Millennial Dawn," in proof of spiritual manifestations, and who, in consequence of his 
advocacy of spiritualistic views, was much persecuted, and finally suspended from the exer- 
cise of his functions as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Since then, Mr. H. 
has been quietly pursuing his investigations in the department that was so obnoxious to his 
former associates, but latterly he has become dissatisfied — very conscientiously, no doubt — 
with certain theological aspects of the spiritualistic development, and deemed it his duty to 
propose a series of lectures, which he announced in the following advertisement in the morn- 
ing papers : 

" 'A Plea for the Bible. — The Rev. C. H. Harvey will deliver a short series of lectures 
in defence of the Bible against modern Spiritualism, and in exposition of its phenomena ; the 
first on Wednesday evening, September 2, in Stuyvesant Institute, No. 659 Broadway. 
Mediums and advocates of Spiritualism are invited to attend, and fuU liberty will be 
awarded them to defend their 'new philosophy.' " 

At the appointed time, Mr. Harvey appeared at the desk, at the Stuyves- 
ant Institute, with a small audience assembled before him. After offering a 
prayer, he commenced his discourse, immediatlygiving the audience to under- 
stand that while his position would be in defence of the Bible, it would be one 
of general hostility to modern Spiritualism, on account of what was alleged to 
be its demoniac character. 

But while proceeding more fully to defend his i^osition in regard to these 
points, his utterance became obstructed; he stood for a moment, as if trans- 
fixed, and then dropped to the floor, as if smitten down with a heavy bludgeon. 

His friends were immediately at his side on the platform. They found him 
pale and corpse-like. One man, a stranger to those present, who seemed to 
be a physician, felt for his pulse, and found that it had entirely ceased. Cold 
water was sprinkled upon his face ; brandy was poured down his throat, and 
every available means of restoration was applied, but without the slightest 
apparent effect ; and the physician, who was not a Spiritualist, pronounced 
him " dead 1''^ 

But after he had lain in this way for some eight or ten minutes, a gentle- 
man, who was a Spiritualist, and who understood the nature of the attack, got 
access to him, made a few upward passes over him, when he immediately 
opened his eyes, and soon was so far recovered as to arise and converse with 
those surrounding him. He declared that he had never been in better health 
in his life than he was then ; that his attack did not proceed from any physical 
cause, but that it was from a spirit — from the "Devil," as he termed it — and 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. I45 

expressed a wonder that God had not, in this instance, defended him, as he 
had defended him against similar attacks before. 

It was said to be apparent to all persons there, who had any knowledge of 
philosophy, that Mr. H.'s attack Avas not of the nature of apoplexy, or a rush 
of blood to the head — neither faintness, paralysis, nor anything of the kind — but 
that it v/as clearly produced by some strange and ultra-physical cause, and 
was paralleled only by what, in other instances, has been known as adverse 
spiritual inlluences. * 

Quietude being restored, Mr. H. attempted to proceed with his lecture, but 
his utterance was again mysteriously stopped in the same way, and it was 
thought by those present that if he had persisted in his efforts, he would again 
have been smitten down as before. Again he made the attempt, and again 
failed in like manner ; and linally he announced to his auditors that their 
money would be returned to them if they would apply to the door-keeper, 
but that it was useless for him to attempt to proceed with his lecture under 
the circumstances. 

But few comments on this remarkable case are necessary. Mr. Harvey 
had at one time felt the force and beauty of Spiritualism, yet obviously was 
unable to shake off the trammels of his ancient spirit of sectarian bigotry. 

He attempted to vindicate the claims of revealed religion at the expense of 
Spiritualism^ without remembering, or perhaps ignorant of the fact, that Spir- 
itualism included in its ranks numbers of believers who were as reverential 
admirers of the Bible as himself. The crusade implied in his lecture, there- 
fore, was as unnecessary as it was evidently undertaken in a misconception 
of his subject. How far spirits may have been justified in silencing his erro- 
neous doctrines by using his mediumistic organization in the manner above 
described, we do not pretend to decide. That a spiritual power inimical to 
his purposes overshadowed him, there can be no question. His peculiar 
organism was susceptible to such an influence ; and it was obviously exerted 
to give Mr. Harvey a powerful warning, and the world an evidence that our 
perversions of Divine truth do not always pass unnoticed by invisible powers. 

During the eventful ten years between 1850 and i860, the Sabbath meet- 
ings in New York continued to attract thousands of earnest listeners to the 
religious phase of Spiritualism. 

i'resh and interesting media were being rapidly developed in every grade 
of society. 

The circles held nightly might be numbered by thousands, whilst the press 
and the pulpit continued to contribute their share of vituperation and denun- 
ciation to the notoriety of the subject. 

Many changes had necessarily transpired in the external order " of the line 
of march." 

The partnership between Messrs. Partridge and Britain in the Spiritual 
Telegraph had dissolved, and that invaluable and ably-conducted journal 
had closed its career of usefulness on the appearance of a new paper, edited 
by A. J. Davis, entitled the Herald of Progress. 

As the Spiritual Telegraph had obtained the first generally wide circu- 
lation of any of the numerous journals devoted to the cause, and been sus- 
tained for nearly ten years with an ability and liberality Which can never be 
over-estimated, reflecting undying honor on its spirited projector, Mr. Charles 
Partridge, it is but just that we should insert a few extracts from the valedic- 
tory which concludes the last issue of his paper : 



146 HISTORY OF MODERN 

'"TIME UP!' — SPIRITUAL TELEGPvAPH, NEW YORK, FECRUARY 25, 1860. 

"These ominous" words 'Time up !' are not unfamiliar to our patrons. We have written 
them, from time to time, on the margin of the paper, to signify to our subscribers that the 
period for which they had paid for the Telegraph had expired, and also to signify to them 
our solicitations for their further remittance and continued support. 

" But as time rolls on, human needs and relations change, and the most familiar words 
even, change their positions, relations, and meaning. So now, instead of v/riting these words, 
' Time up !' on the mai'gin of the paper as an invitation for the renewal of subscriptions, we 
place them at the head of the editorial columns to signify that the prophecy we made, and 
the hope we have often expressed, that a man better calculated to unfold this great subject 
— Spiritualism — and introduce it practically to the people, would ere this appear to take 
our place, is, we trust, about to be i-ealized. 

"The spectre, 'Time up!' and the man, seemingly, has appeared. Mr. Andrew 
Jackson Davis has commenced the publication of a weekly paper called the Herald of 
Progress, and arrangements between him and ourselves have been made to transfer the 
Spiritual Telegrapk to the Herald of Progress, which commences its regular weekly issue 
next Saturday, the 3d of March 

" No pecuniaiy considerations induced us to commence the publication of the Spiritual 
Telegraph, and no such considerations enter into our present determination to transfer it. 
In our introductory address in the first issue of this paper, under date of May 8, 1852, 
may be found the following : 

"'I have not undertaken this enterprise with the hope or expectation of pecuniary 
profit, and I shall be entirely satisfied if it shall meet the wishes of those most deeply in- 
terested, and at the same time subserve the great interest of human progi-ess. I shall 
publish the paper weekly for one year, whether it pays or not.' 

" We ought, however, to say that the ^jecuniary earnings of the Telegraph never bore 
a more favorable relation to its expenses than during the last few months ; and it never 
seemed to be so well appreciated, or to stand so favorably before the public, as at present, 
which our private letters and the voluntary notices of the press and pulpit abundantly 
testify. Neither has there ever been a more substantial increase of patronage than of 
late ; and had it not been for a long-cherished hope and a settled determination, as we 
have often intimated in these columns, to withdraw from our present position of conducting 
the Telegraph at the earliest opportunity which looked promising for a carrying forward 
by other hands the work we had begun, we should not now have made this transfer. But 
other business of our own, and the charitable institutions in which we delight to labor, 
have absorbed nearly all our attention and time in the day, and we have been obliged to 
do all our writing for this paper while other people have slept, which has, we believe, short- 
ened our life on earth some years, aa begins to appear by declining health ; and our duty to 
ourselves, our gi'owing family, our friends, and to humanity, demands that we transfer different 
branches of our business whenever favorable opportunities occur. 

"It seems appropriate that we should say something on this occasion respecting the 
inception, progress, 'irrepressible conflicts,' and the success, of the Spiritual Telegraph. 

" First, then, the Spiritual Telegraph was projected out of existing spirit manifesta- 
tions, a knowledge of which was deemed important to the happiness of all mankind ; and 
a paper seemed to be the usual and the best method of disseminating the glad tidings from 
that world from which it was said and sung that 'no traveller returns.' We did not at first 
expect to issue more than a few numbers, and these vv'ere intended to contain merely state- 
ments of the facts which should from time to time appear. Accordingly, a few tracts were 
issued in the year 1851 and the early part of 1852, entitled '■ K New Leaf.' 

"But the manifestations of spirits so increased that we found more space and a regular 
issue would be required to make a record of them. Accordingly, on the Sth of May, 1S52, 
we published the first number of the Spiritual Telegraph, and have since continued it 
regularly each week to the present number, which is but eight copies short of eight com- 
plete yearly volumes 

" The Spiritual Telegraph has been eminently successful in all the purposes for which 
it was established. It was designed for a record of the communications and manifestations 
of spirits, and for an earnest, candid criterion of the same ; also as an organ for a respect- 
ful and free interchange of experiences and thoughts, pro and con, on all subjects ; and 
especially those subjects which were new, instructive, and elevating to mankind. In these 
respects it forms an encyclopedia of new phenomena and of the best thoughts, _^^f and con, 
on the profoundest subjects which ever engaged the minds of men 

" The Telegraph was not established for pecimiary gains, and in this also it has been 
successful, and vre have the satisfaction of having contributed the best years of our life. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 147 

and largely of our means, to so worthy an object ; and, finally, v/e have to say that the 
Telegraph was never so well appreciated, and never exerted a more wide and healthy 
influence than at present, and never was more successful in all its purposes and intere^-vs 

than at the moment of its change 

" We by no means arrogate to ourselves the credit of all the brilliant successes of the 
Teh'grap/i. Much of this is due to influences wliich have surrounded us ; to the able 
contributors to its columns, and to Brother Fishbough, who has been our indefatigable co- 
laborer. We now resign our position to Friend Davis, in hope that he will reap some of 
the benefits of our labors, and will be able to do more and better for the happiness and 
elevation of mankind than ourselves." 

Believing that all, and far more, of successful and untiring effort than the 
modesty of the proprietor has permitted him to aflirm in these extracts, will 
be cordially acknowledged in behalf of this invaluable paper by all classes 
of Spiritualists, we deem this brief tribute to its inestimable service will be 
found as acceptable to our readers as it is well-merited. 

Amongst other changes of a progressive character, the conversion of the 
Messrs Owen, father and son, to the cause of Spiritualism must not pass 
unnoticed. 

Of Mr. Robert Owen, the elder, the great philantliropist, and originator 
of a humanitary scheme of socialism, it is needless to speak, except to 
remark that his obstinate adherence to a purely materialistic belief, and the 
injury which his inlluential opinions were supposed to exert on the cause of 
religion, made his conversion to Spiritualism, through the test mediumship of 
Mrs. Hayden, of Boston, a subject of A\dde-spread interest, and umversa.1 
astonishment. 

One of England's most prominent statesmen declared " that Mrs. Hayden 
deserved a monument, if only for the conversion of Robert Owen." 

Meantime the influence of the great socialist leader drew to a careful 
examination of the subject, hundreds of minds who were ready to follow in 
the clear footprints of so great a man, although they did not feel strong 
enough to stand alone, even for the sake of truth and immortality. 

About the close of the year 1S59, Hon. Robert Dale Ov.-en, late 
American IMinister to Naples, and one of the most esteemed literar}'- and 
accomplished statesmen of the day, published, in Philadelphia, his popular 
work, "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World." 

This volume, which is an admirable digest of the Spiritualism of many 
lands and periods, coming from so authoritative a source, and known to 
embody much of the author's personal observations, created a new interest 
in the subject, and increased the demand for Mr. Owen's work almost 
beyond the publisher's capacity to supply. Another missionarj', of equal 
interest to those who can only receive opinions from high quarters, was the 
volume of "Life Incidents," indited by the celebrated medium, D. D. Home, 
whose wonderful spirit seances and cordial reception in nearly all the courts of 
Em"ope and by the highest magnates, cast a remarkable illiunination over 
the assumed " unpopularit}'" of Spiritualism in the eyes of wiai'istocratic 
Americans. 

By these two volumes alone. Spiritualism, whilst numbering its five millions 
in America, was discovered to hold its irresistible sway over the minds of 
princes, potentates, and powers, as well as peoples. Nothing in the history 
of the movement, however, excites such profound astonishment in retrospec- 
tion as the silent and mysterious methods of its propagandism. 



148 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

CHAPTER XV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CONCLUDED. 

"And tliey were all amazed and marvelled, saying, one to another, 'Behold, are not all these which speak 
Galileans?' 

"Others, mocking, said, 'These men are full of new wine.' " 

The New York Spiritual Rostrum — Speaking Mediums — Test Mediums in 
New York— New York Prominent Spiritualists — Linton, the Medium — 
The great Tabernacle Meeting — Investigations at the New York Me- 
chanics' Institute — The Buffalo Doctors — Stephen Alero — Miss Brooks 
AND Cora Scott — Buffalo Spiritualists. 

From the year 1853 the SpirituaHsts of New York succeeded in festabHsh- 
ing regular Sunday meetings, which were held at first in the Stuyvesant 
Institute, afterwards in Hope Chapel, and finally in Dodworth Hall, where 
with but little or no interruption, they have continued for above fourteen 
years. The services consisted generally of select readings, extemporaneous 
prayers, and a lecture delivered, morning and evening, by the most accom- 
plished speakers that the spiritual ranks could afford. 

The musical services, which were interspersed with the readings, were 
originally organized and conducted by Mrs. Emma Hardinge and a choir of 
from twenty to thirty volunteer singers. 

As the young performers were nearly all mediums, and the anthems, hymns, 
etc., were composed for them by their directress, the musical exercises 
formed a highly attractive feature of the meetings. For the most part they 
were attended by a large and eager throng of listeners, and when the favorite 
speakers of the spiritual ranks filled the rostnim, the fine hall was invariably 
crowded to overflowing, and the New York papers vented their usual comple- 
ment of vituperation and insult by way of satisfaction to the wounded feelings 
of rival sects and to the manifest increase of the Spiritualists' popularity. 

After the establishment of the Spiritualists in Dodworth Hall, the New 
York Conference held its sittings there on the Sunday afternoons, when 
strangers were admitted, and though they might possess totally opposite 
views, were always courteously permitted to share in the discussions. 

To give an idea of the meetings that were held in New York about this 
time, it will be in order to mention the names and characteristics of some of 
the speakers who officiated, most of whom were engaged by the committee 
for a course. of several successive Sabbaths. 

Occupying a deservedly foremost rank in this distinguished array were 
A. J. Davis, and his amiable and talented wife, Mrs. Mary Davis, who in 
point of pleasing oratory, was even more acceptable on the rostrum than the 
great "Poughkeepsie Seer," her husband. S. B. Britain, Charles Partridge, 
Dr. Hallock, Joel Tiffany, and Rev. William Fishbouglij all too well known 
and appreciated to need description, contributed often, by their talents and 
eloquence, to the clear exposition of Spiritualism. John Bovee Dodds, 
formerly one of the distinguished opponents of the cause, was now one of its 
able advocates on the New York platform. 

Rev. R. P. Ambler, and Rev. Thomas L. Harris, were also amongst the 
most popular of the speakers. 

Dr. J. Orton, VV. S. Courtney, a highly distinguished law}'^er; Rev. Thomas 
Benning, a most exemplary and accomplished gentleman, formerly a Wes- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 149 

leyan minister; J. H. Toohe}^, a fine logical speaker, late editor of the 
Christian Spiritualist ; Dr. Wellington, a successful medical practitioner; 
Professor Hare; L. Judd Pardee, a fine trance speaker; Professor Denton- 
an eminent geologist and admirable lecturer ; Hon. Warren Chase, ex-Con- 
gressman and one of the most logical and philosophical lecturers in the field ; 
S. J. Finney an inspirational speaker of extraordinary ability; and Thomas 
Gates Forster, a gentleman of literary talent, whose discourses, for eloquence, 
power, and wide range of thought, have never been surpassed on any pulpit 
or platform, formed the chief male portion of the lecturers engaged to dis- 
course to the New York audiences. 

Besides these, the array of female talent was equally strong and remarkable. 
One of the earliest of this class of lecturers was Miss C. M. Beebe, a lady whose 
written essays form as fine specimens of modern literature as any that the 
language contains. Deservedly preeminent in spiritual and personal attrac- 
tions, also, was Mrs. Cora Hatch, a young lady of scarce seventeen summers, 
but who, after several years of wonderful phenomenal mediumship, was con- 
trolled to dehver discourses whose marvellous beauty of diction and style of 
oratory was their least attraction. Mrs. Hatch lectured on almost every 
science with equal facility and correctness. Her discourses were always de- 
livered in a profound trance, were most commonly selected by a committee 
chosen from the audience at the time of their delivery, and were succeeded 
by the answering of questions propounded on the spot, the apt and felicitous 
nature of which presented evidence of the highest and most intellectual con- 
trol that could be brought to bear upon a merely mortal medium. Of a 
similar character, both in the matter and fascinating manner of deliyery, were 
the trance discourses of INIrs. Emma Jay Bullene, with whom the additional 
charm of delightful singing was added to her extemporaneous oratory. Miss 
Sprague, a young lady of scarcely inferior attractions, was another of this gift- 
ed band. Mrs. Charlotte Tuttle, a charming and vivacious trance speaker, 
Mrs. Hattie Huntley, JMrs. Frances H3^zer, and Mrs. M. S. Townsend, were 
also distinguished favorites of the New York rostrum. The largest and most 
appreciative audiences that ever sustained with generous sympathy the sensi- 
tive natures of those abnormal oratresses, were kindly accorded to Emma 
Hardinge, the choir leader, who had also, under the control of her spirit 
guides, become a trance or inspirational speaker; and when to these is added 
an occasional visit from one or other of the hundreds of speakers who v/ere 
scattered through various parts of the States, the quality of the spiritual plat- 
form at Dodworth Hall, New York, may be fairly estimated. 

Besides this meeting, several others were held in different parts of the city; 
amongst these there was one for many years conducted at Lamartine Hall 
by the learned Dr. Horace Dresser. In the Bowery, Sixth avenue, Brook- 
lyn, Williamsburgh, and Morrisania, regular Sunday meetings were sustained. 
Besides the free circles of Miss Laura Edmonds, J. B. Conklin, Kate Fox, 
and Emma Hardinge, upwards of three hundred private circles were known 
to be held in New York about this time, at which admirable and accom- 
plished mediums presided. 

Amongst the more distinguished professional or public mediums were Mrs. 
Coan, the excellent test rapping medium ; George Redman, a rapping, writing, 
and test medium of the most astounding physical endowments; Mrs. Cora 
Brown, Miss Middlebrook, and Miss Sarah Irish, admirable mediums for 
testo by rapping, seeing, writing, trance, etc. ; Mrs. Bradley and Mrs. Town- 
send, remarkable mediums for the production of spirit chawings ; Mrs. Kel- 
log, one of the best claii-voyant, personating, seeing, and writing mediums in 



I50 HISTORY OF MODERN 

the country ; Mrs. Harriet Porter, a most v/onderful prophetic speaking and 
seeing test medium ; Miss Seabring, an excellent test tipping medium ; Miss 
Mildred Cole, a child scarcely twelve years of age, but whose endowments as a 
test medium in every variety of development were almost unequalled ; and the 
still famous Mrs. Leah Fish, of the Fox family [afterwards the wife of Mr. 
Calvin Brown], whose crowded seances attested the undiminished force of her 
wonderful phenomenal powers. 

With such facilities for investigating the science, discussing the philosophy, 
and enjoying the consoling religion of Spiritualism, can it be wondered at 
that Spiritualists began to number their thousands and tens of thousands in 
New York, and that, as a science and religion both, it at last compelled re- 
spectful recognition from the public. A few more notices of the prominent 
features of the cause in New York, and our record in that direction must be 
brought to a close. 

Besides opening his house for receptions, circles, conferences, and hospi- 
tality of the most profuse and noble kind, Mr. Charles Partridge, in varieties 
of ways, continued to benefit the cause of Spiritualism with purse, person, and 
character. 

Organizing circles, hiring mediums from distant parts of the country, and 
bearing his part in the financial and executive departments of the meetings 
with unsparing liberality, this gentleman's unflagging zeal also carried him on 
to the rostrum, where his plain, straightforward candor invariably secured 
Ibr him a respectful and appreciative auditory. 

On several occasions he was invited to address the " Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association" of New York, and in a series of logical yet perfectly plain 
arguments he brought his strong sense and vast experience to a successful 
issue in inducing members of that body to investigate the claims of Spiritual- 
ism. 

Judge Edmonds and Dr. Warner also opened their splendid residences for 
weekly receptions of Spiritualists, thus promoting a social feeling and kindly 
interchange of sentiment between different classes of the believers that oper- 
ated very favorably upon all. 

Mrs. Hatch frequently held investigating circles, where the philosophy of 
the communion was discussed v/ith the most distinguished savans of the 
country, the spirits controlling the young medium with a display of ability 
that was acknowledged to be perfectly supra-mundane. Mrs. Brown and 
Emma Flardinge held investigating circles for the purpose of testing the more 
rare and occult phenomena by which the physical manifestations v.'ere made. 
These meetings often resulted in the most astonishing displays of spirit-power, 
and it is to be regretted that their details cannot be given to the public, as 
they would make the recorded phenomena appear insignificant by their side. 
Emma Hardinge and two or three of the prominent New York mediums also 
entered into a set of experiments on mental telegraphy, from which the most 
interesting results were obtained. 

In 1855 "the Society for the Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge" published 
a large volume of 530 pages, entitled " The Healing of the Nations." It is a 
collection of aphorisms on every imaginable subject and condition of life, 
arranged in short, poetic prose verses, the beauty of Avhich, Avhether in senti- 
ment, imager}.', or purity of diction, makes it a work of unrivalled excellence 
and spiritual elevation. 

The production of this book was diie to the mediumship of Mr. Charles 
Linton, a young man developed into the spiritual ranks from the humble 
sphere of a blacksmith, where Iris opportunities for intellectual culture were 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 151 

of course very limited. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, Mr. Linton be- 
came a -w-riting medium of such extraordinary capacity that he attracted the 
attention of Governor TaUmadge, under whose able editorship the " Healing 
of the Nations " was published. 

Governor Tallmadge gives the following account of this work and its origin 
in his editorial introduction : 

" About a year ago Mr. Linton was directed to write no more miscellaneous communica- 
tions, but to give his attention to \vi-iting a book which would be dictated to hun through 
spiritual influence. 

"He procured, according to direction, a thick, bound, blank volume, of the largest ruled 
letter sheet, and in that commenced writing. This book itself is almost a miracle. The 
chirography is beautiful. The handwriting of the medium herein is entirely different from 
his own, and can be read as easily as print. It is written with an accuracy and neatness 
that could not be surpassed by the most expert copyist. There are four hundred and thirty 
pages in the volume and not a word of importance erased or interUned throughout the 
whole. A large portion of it has been written in my presence 

"During the time I was with Linton he wrote from five to ten pages a day. He wTote 
rapidly whilst the influence was on him 

" l\Iany literary and scientific gentlemen have examined the original volume, and pronounce 
portions of it beyond human conception. 

" The style is simply faultless, and adapted to every capacity. The most astute critic 
cannot strike out a word in a single sentence and substitute another wliich he can truthfully 
say wUl improve it in style or sentiment." 

Tn 1855 an immense spiritual meeting was held in a great building, since 
pulled down, called " the Tabernacle." 

The house, though capable of holding upwards of four thousand persons, 
was crowded to suffocation and hundreds went away unable to obtain ad- 
mission. 

The following notice of this meeting appears in one of the New York 
papers. 

"GREAT SPIRITUAL MEETING— ADDRESSES BY GOVERNOR TALLMADGE, REV. T. L, 
HARRIS, AND JUDGE EDMONDS. 

"New York, February 24, 1S55. 

" According to the published notices in the daily papers of this city, a meeting of the 
Spiritualists was convened at the Broadway Tabernacle, on Friday evening, February 16. 
Long before the time for the commencement of the services, the house was filled by an 
immense audience, which must have numbered over five thousand persons. 

" The following statement of the Daily Sim may be taken as the general estimate : 

"'Spiritual Mass iNIeeting. — The largest meeting of the season was held last 
evening at the Broadway Tabernacle by the Spiritualists. The galleries and every available 
spot in the house were densely packed, and the greatest possible interest was kept up during 
the whole proceedings. 

" ' The meeting will prove, no doubt, a season long to be remembered, for while it is a 
significant answer to the assertion that Spiritualism is 'passing away,' the impression left 
on the minds of those who attended must be the best evidence that Spiritualism was inter- 
nal and sympathetic as well as external and numerous. 

" ' If we needed confirmation on the subject of spiritual progress in this city, it would be 
found in the fact that Spiritualism was allowed a hearing in the Tabernacle, for two years 
ago, when the Rev. Mr. Madison got up a theological farce in the same place, the friends 
of Spiritualism wished the use of the Tabernacle to say what ' is and what is not Spiritual- 
ism ; ' but then it could not be had for that purpose. There may have been good reasons 
for the refusal, but be that as it may, one thing is plain, either Spiritualism is better under- 
stood, or else it is more popular — the present meeting being the authority.' 

"It would be unnecessary to notice the addresses which were made on the occasion, 
except to say that they were listened to with deep interest by the secular portion of tha 
audience, and reported in an unusually respectful tone by the press." 



152 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Amongst the numerous literary, scientiiic, and even religious societies that 
began to realize the growing popularity of Spiritualism and the necessity for 
investigating its claims, was " the New York Philosophical Society of the 
Mechanics' Institute." 

At three of the meetings of this society, Mrs. Coan, J. B. Conklin, and 
Mr. Charles Partridge v/ere invited to be present. The investigations through 
the tv/o first-named mediums consisted of regular seances, in which the vari- 
ous members of the association tested the raps and movements of the table 
in the usual way — writing names of spirit friends, ages, places of death, 
diseases, and eveiy conceivable token of identity on several slips of paper, 
and then rolling them up in tight pellets and throv/ing them pell-mell upon 
the table. 

Each pellet was picked out and arranged by the raps or tips in corresponding 
series ; the questions or tests suggested in them Avere then all correctly spelled 
out by the controlling spirits, and as each pellet was opened it was found to 
correspond, whilst every answer to test questions was given correctly. Many 
of the questions were propounded in mystic ways, and some in the German 
language, but the answers to all invariably indicated the personality of the 
spirit, his or her perfect understanding of the questioner's meaning, besides 
conveying in many ways an amount of spontaneous intelligence that was not 
asked for. 

The impression produced upon the minds of the shrewd inquisitors was 
deep and earnest. All agreed in the report which was subsequently issued, 
namely, that no evidence whatever of fraud or deception could be traced 
on the part of the medium ; that the intelligence rendered was correct, and 
in view of its supra-mundane character, truly astounding, and could not have 
been the result of chance, accident, or, in many cases, even psychological 
impression. On the third evening, Mr. Charles Partridge addressed the 
meeting in terms so clear and logical that he was listened to with the most 
profound attention and interest, and the seajices closed widi a unanimous 
vote of the society to continue their investigations during the ensuing winter 
session. 

It would scarcely be possible to close our notice of Spiritualism in New 
York without making special reference to the manifestations which have 
occurred in the extreme western city of the State, Buffalo. 

In spiritualistic annals Buffalo has been less celebrated than notorious, as 
the scene of the famous exposition of the learned "Buffalo Doctors," Messrs. 
Flint, Lee, and Coventry. 

As this transaction stands almost unrivalled for folly and even psychologi- 
cal absurdity, it becomes necessary to assign to it the prominent place which 
its remarkable features deserve ; we shall therefore give the expose in all its 
details, by inserting the letter written by the said " Buffalo Doctors " to the 
Commercial Advertiser. 

It must be stated that the circumstances referred to took place during tlie 
visit of the Misses Fox to Buffalo, in 185 1. In February of that year, Mrs. 
Fish and her sister, Margaretta Fox, commenced giving seances at the Phelps 
House, which were thronged with all the elite of the city, amongst whom were 
the Professor of Physiology, the Professor of Materia Medica, and a Professor 
of the Practice of Medicine, of the University of Buffalo. In virtue, it may 
be presumed, of the positions occupied by the gentlemen, they deemed that 
their authority would carry great weight upon any subject coming within the 
range of their observation ; it was doubtless with a full sense, then, of the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 53 

effects they expected to produce on the puWic mind, that they penned the 
following unsought-for communication, 

"EXPOSITION OF THE ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS — BUFFALO COMMERCIAL 

ADVERTISER. 

" To the Editor of the Coimnercial Advertiser : 

"Curiosity having led us to visit the room at the Phelps House in which two females 
from Rochester [Mrs. Fish and Miss Fox] profess to exhibit striking manifestations of the 
spiritual world, by means of which communion may be held with deceased friends, etc., and 
having arrived at a physiological explanation of the phenomena, the correctness of which 
has been demonstrated in an instance that has since fallen under observation, we have felt 
that a public statement is called for, which may perhaps serve to prevent further waste of 
time, money, and credulity, to say nothing of sentiment and philosophy, in connection with 
this so long successful imposition. 

" The explanation is reached almost by logical necessity, on the application of a method 
of reasoning much resorted to in the diagnoses of diseases, viz. : reasoning by way of exclu- 
sion. It was reached by this method prior to the demonstration which has subsequently 
occurred. 

" It is to be assumed, first, that the manifestations are not to be regarded as spiritual, 
provided they can be physically or physiologically accounted for. Immaterial agencies are 
not to be invoked until material agencies fail. We are thus to exclude spiritual causation 
ill this stage of the investigation. 

" Next it is to be taken for granted that the rappings are not produced by artificial con- 
trivances about the persons of the females, which may bs concealed by the dress. This 
Iiypothesis is excluded, because it is understood that the females have been repeatedly and 
carefully examined by lady committees. 

" It is obvious that the rappings are not caused by machineiy attached to tables, doors, 
etc., for they are heard in different rooms, and different parts of the same room, if the 
females are present, but always near the spot where the females are stationed. This 
mechanical hypothesis is then to be excluded. 

" So much for negative evidence, and now for what positively relates to the subject. 

"On carefully observing the countenances of the two females, it was evident that the 
sounds were due to the agency of the younger sister, and that they involved an effort of the 
will. She evidently attempted to conceal any indications of voluntary effort, but in this 
she did not succeed. A voluntary effort was manifest, and it was plain that it could not 
be continued very long without fatigue. 

"Assuming, then, this positive fact, the inquiry arises how can the will be exerted to pro- 
duce sounds [rappings] without obvious movements of the body? The voluntary muscles 
are the only organs [save those which belong to the mind itself] over which volition can 
exert any direct control. But the contractions of the muscles do not, in the muscles them- 
selves, occasion obvious sounds. The muscles, therefore, to develop audible vibrations, 
must act upon parts with which they are connected. Now, it was sufficiently clear that the 
rappings were not vocal sounds ; these could not be produced without movements of the 
respiratory muscles, which would at once lead to detection. Hence, excluding vocal sounds, 
the only possible source of the noises in question, produced, as we have seen they must be, 
by voluntary muscular contractions, is in one or more of the moveable articulations of the 
skeleton. From the anatomical connections of the voluntary muscles, this explanation 
remains as the only alternative. 

" By an analysis prosecuted in this manner, we arrive at the conviction that the rappings 
— assuming that they are not spiritual— are produced by the action of the will, through 
voluntary muscles, upon the joints. 

" Various facts may be cited to show that the motion of joints, under certain circum- 
stances, is adequate to produce the phenomena of the rapping ; but we need not now refer 
to these. By a curious coincidence, after arriving at the above conclusion respecting the 
source of the sounds, an instance has fallen under our observation which demonstrates the 
fact that noises precisely identical with the spiritual rappings may be produced in the knee 
joint. 

"A highly respectable lady of this city possesses the ability to develop sounds similar, 
both in character and degree to those professedly elicited by the Rochester impostors from 
the spiritual world. 

" We li-^ve witnessed the production of the sounds by the lady referred to, and have been 
permitted to examine the mechanism by which they are produced. Without entering, at 



154 



HISTORY OF MODERN 



this time, into a very minute anatomical and physiological explanation, it is sufficient to 
state chat the muscles inserted into the upper and inner side of the large bone of the leg [the 
tibid\ near the knee joint, are brought into action so as to move the upper surface of the 
bone just named, laterally upon the lower surface of the thigh bone [theyt'/wwr], giving rise, 
in fact, to a partial lateral dislocation. This is effected by an act of the will, without any 
obvious movement of the limb, occasioning a loud noise, and the return of the bone to its 
place is attended by a second sound. Most of the Rochester rappings are also double. It 
is practicable, however, to produce a single sound, by moving the bone out of place with 
the requisite quickness and force, and allowing it to slide slowly back, in which case it is 
noiseless. 

" The visible vibrations of articles in the room situated near the operator, occur if the 
limb, or any portion of the body, is in contact with them at the time the sounds are pro- 
duced. The force of the semi-dislocation of the bone is sufficient to occasion distinct 
jarringsof doors, tables, etc., if in contact. The intensity of the sound may be varied in 
jDroportion to the force of the muscular contractions, and this wiU render the apparent 
source of the rappings more or less distinct. 

" We have witnessed repetitions of experiments in the case just referred to, sufficient to 
exhibit to us all the phenomena of sounds belonging to the Rochester rappings, and without 
further explanation at this time, we append our names in testimony of the facts contained 
in the foregoing hastily-penned exposition. 



'University of Buffalo, February 17, 1S51." 



"Austin Flint, M.D. 
Charles A. Lee, M.D. 
C. B, Coventry, M.D. 



The publication of this article produced a perfect legion of paper warriors, 
who did battle on both sides of the question with equal hardihood but 
doubtful success. Amongst the most interesting results of the expose, how- 
ever, was a letter from the "females" themselves, in which they simply and 
modestly demanded a more thorough investigation before they would consent 
to be branded as "impostors" on the faith of a mere anatomical theory. 

The challenge thus publicly made could not be evaded. 

Another meeting took place, at which the savans were permitted to place 
the unfortunate sisters in various cramped and painful positions, with a view 
of rendering the joints "tense" etc. 

It would be simply waste of time now to reprint the contradictor}^, garbled, 
but almost incomprehensible "stuff" that the learned professors again put 
forth by way of report on this second meeting, the gist of which was that 
"when the sounds" were not heard, it was not because there was any sus- 
pension of the electric currents necessary to produce them by the cramped 
position of the mediums, or the neutralizing, effect of the antagonistic mag- 
netism of the minds that were watching them like tigers ready to spring upon 
their prey, "but because they [the doctors] had placed them in such a posi- 
tion that the knee joints could not work." Again when the sounds were pro- 
duced, it was not attributed to the fact that the scientific clutch was removed 
or had been partially relaxed, but that they [the females] took sudden advan- 
tage of their freedom when the investigators were off their guard, whilst any 
raps that were heard in parts of the room removed from the mediums, the 
learned doctors undertook to affirm were not heard there, only appeared to 
be so heard, and that by listeners who were imacquainted with the law of 
acoustics, which made some sounds under some circumstances seem to pro- 
ceed from a distance, vvhen they were in reality made quite near, etc. 

Dr. Lee wrote a concise statement of his great discovery for the New 
York Tribune, which was published accordingly, but with an editorial note 
appended to it, suggesting that as the Buffalo doctors had confessedly pre- 
judged the cause before they had tried it, and determined that the Rochester 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 155 

ladies were humbugging "females" before they saw them, it might have been 
as well to have intrusted the trial to somewhat more impart'al judges. 

As usual, the Buffalo University lights only threw a publicity over the 
subject of the rappings, which resulted in a perfect torrent of investigation, 
and filled the public prints with reports of seances whose highly favorable and 
often astounding character — witnessed by many of the most distinguished 
citizens of Buffalo — culminated in the conversion of more investigators to 
the belief in Spiritualism than had been known in the space of so short a 
time in any other city of the Union. 

Among the investigators provoked into research by the flimsy misrepresen- 
tations of the Buffalo doctors, was Mr. Stephen Albro, an old and highly-re- 
spectable citizen, whose inquiries into Spiritualism, starting from this simple 
point, led him into the very thick of the ranks, and procured the pov/erful 
advocacy of his pen and purse for the cause, to which for years he lent his 
aid in Buffalo, besides undertaking the publication of an exceedingly well- 
written paper, edited by himself, entitled The Age of Progress. It is un- 
necessary to remark further on these transactions except to point to the 
invaluable results that grew out of the poor medium's martyrdom in the 
advancement of the cause. 

The mere publication of The Age of Progress, and the noble champi- 
onship of its editor, Mr. Stephen Albro, formed a Macedonian phalanx in 
SpirituaUsm, for which it owes the Buffalo doctors an incalculable debt of 
gratitude. Amongst other remakable results of the excitement which fol- 
lowed the visit of the Misses Fox were many new developments of medium 
power, amongst which we must revert to the case of A'liss Sarah Brooks, 
already alluded to as the wonderful medium for an invisible piano-forte 
player, and also for a number of philosophical spirits who, through the simple 
raps, alphabetically spelled out several hundred able lectures, which were each 
week printed in The Age of Progress for more than two years. It was in 
the city of Buffalo that the Davenport Brothers first became the wonder and 
astonishment of their time. 

Those who have only witnessed their cabinet perfonnances in the midst of 
a heterogeneous and often bitterly-antagonistic mob, cannot form the slight- 
est conception of the marvellous character of the phenomena which first 
startled the simple and unsophisticated parents of the two young lads, before 
either of them had reached his fourteenth year. 

Besides the heavy poundmgs and violent disturbances of the furniture 
which ordinarily occur with what is called "physical force mediums," spectral 
figures were frequently seen by the whole family, whilst voices were heard 
giving them instruction, advice, and encouragement. 

Another striking phenonienon of the young Davenports' mediumship was 
the firing of pistols, rifles, etc., in the dark, against a mark, which, however 
minute, was always hit v/ith marv^ellous precision. Very frequently the flash 
of the piece would disclose apparitions guiding or receiving the bullets, and 
monstrous arms and hands were constantly seen flashing through the dark- 
ness, or even in an obscure light, by members of the family, under the most 
startling circumstances. 

At times the children would be lifted up several feet in the air, and kept 
suspended there for one or two minutes. The manifestations accompanied 
them everywhere ; in the streets or stores ; at their play or in bed, and were 
always of the wildest and most preternatural character. 

As a more extended notice of these vv'onderful mediums will be given else- 



156 HISTORY OF MODERN 

where, we shall only furtlier add that their residence, like tliat of Miss Brooks, 
was continually thronged by eager and astounded witnesses. 

Other spiritual manifestations of a far more elevating character were fre- 
quently afforded to the earnest seekers for the truth and beauty of Spiritual- 
ism, through the joint mediumship of Miss Sarah Brooks and Miss Cora 
Scott [afterwards Mrs. Hatch, the celebrated lecturer]. These young ladies, 
both of them mere children in age, shortly after the visit of the Misses Fox, 
became mediums and frequently held trance seances, at whicli one would be 
controlled to speak in foreign tongues, whilst the other interpreted the mys- 
tic utterances. These, together with the public lectures of Thomas Gales 
Forster, one of the most eloquent and powerful trance speakers of America, 
supplied the good people of Buffalo with food for the highest intellectual 
thought, whilst the more startling phenomena noticed above, fully testified 
that the work was of a supra-mundane character. Many other mediums of 
singular power and excellence became prominent in the spiritual uprising of 
this city. Mrs. Swain, Mr. Sangster, and Mr. Reed, contributed their share 
to the marvels by the most astounding physical manifestations. 

Dr. Griswold commenced, in Buffalo, the publication of The Siaibeaui, a. 
spiritual paper of an eminently religious tone, and contributed by his remark- 
able mediumship as a seer, artist, and writer, to the elevation of the mighty 
cause ; in short, no city has been more abundantly blessed with an outx^our- 
ing of the Pentecostal ih-e than Buffalo. 

Many changes have thinned the ranks and decimated the strength of the 
spiritual army whose bright phalanx once shone so resplendently in this great 
Western emporium. 

The once-crowded Sabbath meetings have, we believe, languished into 
occasional gatherings only, whilst the phenomenal men and women who 
once made the very name of Buffalo synonymous with a Pentecostal out- 
pouring, are scattered far and wide in broader fields of labor. 

Stephen Albro, Dr. Griswold, and Mr. A. C. Maynard, tliree of the m.ost 
devoted, brave, and unselfish laborers that the spiritual cause has ever num- 
bered, have themselves passed to their spheres of bright and nobly-earned 
recompense. 

But Stephen Albro's Age of Progress has not been inaugurated in vain. 
The mighty flood sweeps on, which his strong hand helped to direct into the 
channels of human usefulness. The bright little Sunbeam which the de- 
votion and self-sacrifice of good Dr. Griswold reflected upon earth's gross 
darkness, has lighted up the pathway for many and many a pilgrim foot on 
the highways of immortality, and the ever-open door with which the lavish 
hospitality of good Mr. Maynard welcomed the spirits and their wayworn 
mediums, has drawn angel hosts to earth, who Vv^ill never forsake it more. 

The physical forms of the two noble editors, and the well-beloved and 
generous friend of the medium, have disappeared from the mortal eyes of 
those amongst whom they so freely broke the bread of immortal life, but we 
know that their works do follow them ; and are gathered up in the light of 
those sunbeams that will never be quenched in death or forgetfulness, 
whilst their cherished memory will ever be green in the heart of every true 
Spiritualist. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 157 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND. —MAS SACHUSETTS WITCHCRAFl 

IN 1849. 

"Dogberry — Oh that he were here to ^vrite me down an ass ! But, masters, remember that I am an ass ; 
though it be not written do^vii, yet forget not that I am an ass. . . . Oh that I had been 
writ down an ass !" Much ado about Nothimg. 

An attempt to arrive at the origin of the spiritual movement, proves first, 
its vast universality, and next, its unbroken continuity with all preceding out- 
pourings of a similar kind. 

Even if we were disposed to trace the beginning of New England Spiritual- 
ism to Salem Witchcraft, we should find that the victims of that reign of ig- 
norance and superstition inherited their occult gifts in legitimate succession 
from mediumistic progenitors. In the accounts of special phenomena 
which we are compelled to reserve for a second volume, will be found the 
nan-ative of art apparition whose manifestations by s])eech, voice, appearance, 
and direct communion, far transcend any of the other marv-els of modern 
times, yet this occurrence preceded the Rochester knockings by forty-seven 
years ; in fact, although it seems necessary, for the sake of perspicuity, to 
select a special date for the opening of our history, it is almost impossible to 
note any period unmarked by spiritual phenomena, which if less prominently 
heralded forth to the Avorld than the Hydesville disturbances, are still proved 
to be of a kindred nature, and obviously related to a general and unbroken 
thread of intercommunion between the natural and spiritual v/orlds. 

The following narrative is strikingly illustrative of these remarks, and had 
it been more extensively published abroad, would doubtless have been 
regarded as the true starting point of modern Spiritualism in New England. 
--- About the year 1837, a Dr. Larkin, practicing physician in Wrentham, 
Massachusetts, became interested in the phenomena evoked by animal mag- 
netism. Observing that it might be made instnunental in the cure of dis- 
eases, and finding himself possessed of the requisite power to become an 
operator, he conducted a series of experiments so successfully as to convince 
himself of the use of magnetism as a curative agent, also of its value in the 
development of clairvoyance, which he found to be a very general result of 
magnetic operations. In 1844 he tried the effect of animal magnetism upon 
a servant-girl employed in his family, Avho was afflicted with fits. At first the 
patient exhibited only a modification in her physical symptoms, but after a time 
clairvoyance of a most remarkable character supervened; she was enabled 
during the mystic sleep to describe her own state, and that of numbers of the 
doctor's patients, of whom she had never heard. Wlien any difficult case 
was presented to Dr. Larkin, he had only, by a few passes, to place the girl 
[jMary Ja-ne] in a magnetic sleep, to insure her giving a remarkable diagnosis 
of the disease he. v.ashed to inquire about, and often, in addition, a valuable 
and effective prescription. Although Dr. Larkin was unable precisely to 
determine what were the best conditions for the prosecution of his magnetic 
researches with this clairvoyant, there were certain results growing out of 
them which were to him — at that time — as unaccountable as they were 
spontaneous and unlooked-for. 

The first of these was the production of loud knockings, which generally 
seemed to accompany the girl's trances, but in what connection, Dr. Larkin 
was unable to divine. They seemed to resound on some article of furniture 



158 HISTORY OF MODERN 

too far removed from the entranced subject to be produced by her, and were 
never accompanied by any movement of her body which could indicate their 
source in her voUtion. Another feature of perplexing novelty to her opera- 
tor was the constantly-repeated assertion that in these states — which she 
called "her sleep" — she was attended by a ^^ fairy" whom she named 
" Katy," and whom she described as a female of " rare beauty and exceeding 
goodness." 

Sometimes, she alleged, she was surrounded by "fairies" like Katy, but 
none of them equalled her in loveliness or power, and Katy it was who de- 
scribed diseases and prescribed for their cure. She said the "fairies" came 
from Germany and v/ere very good, but " Katy" was her "guardian angel," 
and when she came the rest were subordinate to her. 

It seemed that other influences besides good ones were permitted to mani- 
fest themselves in this singular manner. 

Under the control of "Katy" and the "fairies" the clairvoyant was gentle, 
skilful, and sometimes philosophical and exalted, but occasionally an influence 
seemed to possess her of the most profane and mischievous character. Her 
entranced lips, as if moved by automatic action over which she had no con- 
trol, gave utterance to the most blasphemous oaths and rude speeches ; at 
the same time the furniture was often moved about violently by unseen 
hands, and heavy weights were lifted from place to place. On one occasion, 
the whole family being assembled round the couch of the magnetized sleeper, 
and every door being shut, a heavy flat-iron, last seen in the kitchen — quite 
distant off- — ^was suddenly placed in their midst, and, at the request of Mrs. 
Larkin, as suddenly disappeared, and was next found in the kitchen, every 
door of communication having remained closed. 

These and many similar manifestations were made, as the girl stated, by 
" a sailor boy," whom she saw and who compelled her to utter the oaths and 
profane speeches in which [as he alleged through her lips] he had been wont 
to indulge on earth. Meantime the power, whatever it might be, seemed 
locomotive, and followed the doctor occasionally in his professional visits. 
On one occasion, he was attending a patient whose house was situated alone, 
on the top of a high hill commanding a view of every object for miles round. 
During his visit heavy poundings were heard on the front door of the house, 
but on examining the entrance no one could be seen, and although not the 
slightest chance for escape or concealment was afforded, the knocking con- 
tinued as long as the doctor remained. 

As some serious misfortunes occurred to the owners of the house shortly 
afterwards, the mysterious knockings were regarded as " supernatural 
warnings " of their approach, but from their frequent occurrence in other 
scenes, Dr. Larkin naturally attributed them to an occult force originating in 
himself or his surroundings. On another occasion Dr. Larkin attended a 
public dinner given to himself and several members of the medical profession, 
about thirty miles distant from his home. On returning late at night, his 
wife requested him, before retiring, to visit Mary Jane, who was entranced 
and desirous to see him. On entering her chamber, he was greeted with 
uproarious laughter from what purported to be the spirit of the sailor boy, 
who recounted to him all the principal events of the evening, even to his 
trifling vexation at the salmon being underdone at dinner, and the roast pig 
being eaten up before his turn came to be helped. Besides Katy and the 
sailor boy, a number of spirits came through this girl and seemed to take 
pleasure in rehearsing their histories, giving names, places of birth and death, 
ages, and many particulars of their lives. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 159 

In this way, Dr. Larkin, who was a ready waiter, transcribed in a book 
procured for this purpose, the histories of over two hundi-ed and seventy 
spirits, many of whose statements he took exceeding pains to prove, and in 
every instance found the descriptions invariably correct in the minutest 
details. 

In her normal state Maiy Jane was exceedingly illiterate and unimagina- 
tive, but under the influence of these mysterious beings, her discourse was 
instructive, and occasionally scientific. 

The communicating inteUigences varied much in style and tone, but all 
seemed to urge the doctor to make these remarkable manifestations public, 
call in witnesses, and challenge from them the most searching investigation. 
They all prophesied, too, of a coming time, when the intercourse of spirits 
with mortals should be known and practiced openly all over the world. 

About 1846, a most singular and distressing phase of these phenomena 
was superadded to the rest, under what claimed to be the influence of the 
profane sailor. The girl's limbs in several directions would be thrown out 
of joint, and that with apparent ease, in a moment, and without pain. To 
replace them, however, seemed to be either beyond the power or the will of 
her invisible tormentor, and Dr. Tarkin, though an experienced surgeon, was 
often obliged to call in the aid of his professional brethren and two or three 
strong assistants. 

On one occasion the knees and wrists of the girl were thrown out of joint 
twice in a single day. These painful feats were always accompanied by loud 
laughter, hoarse and profane jokes, and expressions of exultant delight, pur- 
porting to come from the spirit sailor, whilst the girl herself seemed wholly 
unconscious of the danger of her awkward situation. The preternatural feats 
of agility and strength exhibited on these occasions could scarcely be credited, 
and the frightfully unnatural contortions of the limbs, with which she became 
tied up into knots and coils, baffles all physiological explanation, or attempts 
at description. 

One day, a very dangerous dislocation had been effected twice in the same 
morning, when the medical practitioner whom Dr. Larkin had summoned to 
his assistance expressed a hope that his services would not be required again, 
as he Avas much pressed for time. Uttering the usual fearful oaths that pur- 
ported to proceed from the spirit of the sailor, the entranced girl bid him stay 
then, and do his Avork at once, upon which the limb was again and instantly 
thrown out of joint, before the eyes of the astonished assistant. 

Although Dr. Larkin and his amiable lady had become familiar with these 
astounding manifestations by their frequency during many succeeding months, 
they were exceedingly reluctant to comply with the desires of their invisible 
communicants by making the facts known and courting public investigation. 
When, however, it became necessary to introduce other practitioners into the 
house to help in reducing the girl's dislocated limbs, and all the abnormal 
sights, sounds, and intelligence attendant upon such a case became a matter 
of notoriety, further concealment was impossible, and the whole country rang 
with rumors of the Aveird phenomena transpiring in Dr. Larkin' s family. As 
usual in such cases, the most exaggerated fictions were substituted for reali- 
ties, but AAiiat the current reports lacked in truth, they gained in scandalous 
misrepresentations; and stories Avere set afloat, as injurious to the honor of 
the harassed family as to any scientific value Avhich the manifestations might 
have had under fair and impartial scrutiny. 

In the fall of 1847, nine men, headed by a minister of Wrentham, called 
on Dr. Larkin ; a self-constituted committee to inquire into the evil rumors 



l6o HISTORY OF MODERN 

that were in circulation respecting him. The doctor, without questioning the 
validity of their claim to intrude into the privacy of his family, quietly narrated 
to them the circumstances of the case, without offering any other explanation 
than such as the details suggested. 

The committee were not satisfied. TIrey reverted to the outrageous scan- 
dals rife in the community, and urged the doctor to plead guilty to the charges. 
These he indignantly denied, but offered to admit any two or three persons 
whom the committee or the community at large should select, as inmates of 
his family for at least one week. He promised to provide them with board 
free of all expense, entertain them as honored guests, and afford them the 
most unlimited opportunities for observation, and agreed to abide by their 
ultimate report, as to the status which he had the right to hold amongst his 
fellow-men. 

Instead of at once accepting his reasonable and candid offer, this commit- 
tee, and others of the same stamp, insisted upon intruding themselves into the 
doctor's house at all times and seasons, and made the condition, of their 
reporting to the world in his favor the production of phenomena upon the 
instant, just as they called for it. 

For months the unfortunate girl was tortured with all sorts of absurd and 
impertinent inquiries and solicitations to call up the spirits, dislocate her 
limbs, make "furniture jump about," etc. 

The quiet of the household was constantly broken into, their occupations 
disturbed, and their reputation seriously damaged ; at last the good, but too- 
5delding doctor insisted upon a more orderly investigation or none at all, and 
then his first proposition was accepted, and an orthodox minister of the strict- 
est denomination, with his wife, was invited by the Wrentham select men, mag- 
istrates, and ministers to take up their residence for some days in Dr. Larkin's 
family, for the express purpose of overseeing the doings of the spirits. The 
choice of the Wrentham magnates was made without consulting the wishes of 
Dr. Larkin, and fell upon the Rev. Mr. Thatcher and his lady, both of whom 
it v/as supposed, from their profession of highly orthodox principles, strict 
piety, and similar requisites for passing judgment, would prove themselves 
more than commonly inimical to the deeds of darkness assumed to be trans- 
piring in the possessed house. 

The first evening of the Rev. Mr. Thatcher's visit to Dr. Larkin, he pro- 
posed to pray by the side of the invalid girl ; when in the very middle of his 
pious invocations, the victim became suddenly entranced, and offered prayers 
for herself with a fervor and beauty that melted the whole party into sympa- 
thetic tears. 

Concerning the result of the clerical inquisition it is only necessary to sa};- 
that both Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher had abundant opportunity for observing and 
closely scrutinizing all and much more than has been related above, and that 
both declare themselves " entirely convinced of the sincerity and purity of 
life and intention of Dr. Larkin and his family, and the veritable nature of 
the occult phenomena transpiring in the person of the girl." 

On one occasion Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher, with Dr. Larkin and his wife, 
were standing around her bed, where she lay entranced and answering their 
questions, when the handkerchief which Mr. Thatcher was using was suddenly 
snatched out of his hand by an invisible power and instantly disappeared, 
Not a creature in the room had moved, and Mr. Thatcher's eyes were at the 
time steadily fixed on Mary Jane, so that he could have detected her slightest 
action. 

Remarking that any circumstance, however small, upon which a preternatu- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. l6l 

lal character could be fixed, would answer the purpose of an investigation 
as well as more important phenomena, he retired with Dr. Larkin, and left 
the two ladies to examine the bed, the girl, every inch of her clothing, and 
the furniture of the room in every conceivable direction. 

The girl was then removed by the ladies to another room, and the gentle- 
men renewed the search, locking the doors and not suffering a pin to escape 
them. When all was done, they found Mary Jane entranced by the swearing 
sailor, who roared with delight at their confusion, and protested that he had 
" carried off the handkerchief to Germany." 

They then summoned the spirit Katy, who generally succeeded in regula- 
ting the disorders of the house. On questioning her, however, she declared 
she was unable to help them, and advised that if they really wished for the 
return of the handkerchief, they should ask it from the spirit sailor. 

Curious to pursue the investigation in all its bearings, Mr. Thatcher in- 
sisted on following her advice. The sailor was recalled, and after much inso- 
lence, promised to return the handkerchief at half-past one o'clock that night. 
And here it may be remarked that, though this spirit always kept his word 
and was wonderfully faithful to time, he invariably made his appointments at 
the most unseasonable hours and inconvenient places possible, seemingly de- 
sirous to impose all the trouble he could upon the family. 

From the time when this promise was made up to the hour of its fulfilment, 
the girl was never left alone for one single moment. 

Her bed, clothing, and person, were again searched, and either Mr. or Mrs. 
Thatcher, in company with other persons, were in her presence constantly. 

Mr. Thatcher, Dr. Larkin, and their wives, finally disposed themselves to 
rest, round the bed of the girl, on chairs and couches. 

About one in the morning, she spoke under the influence of Katy, and de- 
sired that they should all be awakened, as the spirits were preparing to return 
the handkerchief The ladies then sat the girl upright in the bed, placed her 
hands before her on the quilt, and drawing a sheet under her arms, held it 
firmly so as to prevent her moving a muscle. Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher and 
Dr. Larkin then ranged themselves around the bed, Mr. Thatcher facing and 
intently observing her. It was in this position that, as he stretched out his 
hand to call her attention to a question he was about to put, the missing 
handkerchief in an instant became visible, crumpled up in his open palm. 

The girl then, with a fierce oath, said hoarsely, "There's your old handker- 
chief for you, d n you ! " 

It was the work of an instant. One second, and the hand was empty ; 
the next, with not a movement of a creature within two feet of him, not the 
motion of a muscle from himself or any other visible being in the brightly- 
lighted room, the handkerchief was in his hand ^ how, or from whence, he 
never knew. The gentlemen looked at their watches — it was half-past one to 
a second. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher quitted Dr. Larkin' s house after a week of the 
most open and thorough investigation, and within a few days afterwards, the 
reverend gentleman addi'essed a circular to every brother minister v/ithin a 
circuit of twenty miles, in Avhich he expressed his " entire conviction of the 
supra-mundane character of the events he had witnessed." 

He acquitted all parties concerned of intentional fraud, deception, or con- 
nivance ; pronounced his belief that the phenomena he had witnessed were 
worthy of the " most serious and candid investigation ; " declared it was the 
duty of every minister of religion to come to the work of inquiry in an earnest 
and unprejudiced spirit, and implored his coiTCspondents and their wives to 
11 



l62 HISTORY OF MODERN 

hasten to the scene, and combine in the most serious and practical investiga- 
tion of the whole subject. 

To this letter no attention whatever was paid, but a few days after it was 
issued, the Rev. Horace James [immortal be his name !], one of the ministers 
of Wrentham, and an unceasing persecutor and slanderer of Dr. Larkin, 
summoned three magistrates, who, together with a few persons of the place 
inimical to the manifestations, constituted a judicial court, before which Dr. 
Larkin was cited to appear, and on the authority of which the unfortunate 
sick girl was dragged from her bed and arrested on the charge of " necro- 
mancy" ! 

In this notable trial the Rev. Horace James appeared as complainant, 
chief witness, and even judge ; for when Dr. Larkin tried to address the 
court, Mr. James rudely interrupted him, and asked the justices if they 
"were prepared to believe anything that man had to say." 

The vase officials, thus prompted, replied, to a man, " Of course not; no- 
body could believe him." 

Dr. Larkin, realizing that spirits lived and could communicate with earth, 
and perceiving at once that the spirits of Dogberry and Verges had full pos- 
session of the Wrentham justices, sat down with the simple remark that 
"they were wasting time in trying a case which they had prejudged already." 

If the details of this unheard-of court of justice should seem to draw too 
largely on the credulity of nineteenth-century readers ; if it seems impossible 
to believe that in 1849 ^ poor sick girl could be dragged from her bed on 
the charge of "necromancy," and a respectable physician hailed before a 
court of his own neighbors on a charge of sorcery, — let the sequel speak for 
itself. Mary Jane was convicted on this charge, and actually sentenced to 
sixty days' imprisonment in solitary confinement in Dedliam jail : witness the 
Dedham jail records in the State of Massachusetts. 

As no judicial sentence could be tortured out against Dr. Larkin, a moral 
one of still more weighty results was pronounced, which doomed him to ex- 
pulsion from the church of which he was a member and the Rev. Horace 
James the pastor, unless he made a full and complete acknowledgment and 
recantation of his unholy participancy in Mary Jane's crime. 

In America, where a system of church membership sanctions church 
tyranny strangely anomalous with the institutions of a so-called "free coun- 
try," expulsion from church membership, or even an equivocal standing 
within its awful pale, maybe regarded as "anathema maranatha" on all 
commercial, artistic, or professional interests. 

■ The ban of the church is as potent in a New England town or village, as was 
the Pope's bull of excommunication in the tenth century. Dr. Larkin loved 
his church, and had always enjoyed and prided himself upon his good standing 
within her pale. Of a gentle, kindly, and genial nature, he had maintained 
for many years the regard and esteem of all his fellow parishioners, and the 
continuance of these pleasing relations was essential to his peace of mind, no 
less than to his professional standing and the welfare of his family. But the 
exigency of his position was in the highest degree embarrassing. He had no 
errors to recant, no evil practices to acknowledge, and yet the demand to do so 
was constant and reiterated, and upon his compliance alone, a restoration to 
his unwittingly-forfeited good standing depended. He determined he would 
at least endeavor to conciliate his ecclesiastical tyrants, and for this purpose 
he wrote several letters marked with the most friendly and Christian s[)irit : 
but all would not do ; nothing short of self-accusations, rife with the grossest 
folly and falsehood, would satisfy his persecutors. ]\Ieanwhile his impending 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 163 

ruin was fast hastening to its consummation. Domestic cares and harassing 
vexations, thickening around the unfortunate doctor, kept himself and his tor- 
tured wife on the rack for more than a year after the conviction of the hap- 
less Mary Jane, when, unable to endure the unequal struggle longer, he bid his 
persecutors write such a statement as would satisfy them, and he, on his part, 
promised to sign it. One after the other, he had met his accusers, disposed 
of and disproved every charge that folly, malice, or slander had brought 
against him, save the one of " necromancy," which, so far as it included in- 
voluntary communications with the so-called " dead," he could not without a 
gross untruth deny. 

Finally, the Rev. Horace James called on him with the report which he 
deemed v/ould be satisfactoiy to the church of which he was the pastor. Be- 
fore appending his name to the document, the doctor read it aloud and 
found it required of him to declare that he " did not believe that spirits could 
communicate by signs, sounds, voices, entrancement, or otherwise," and that 
the whole of the testimony which he — Dr. Larkin — had from time to time 
given on this subject was false, and hereby declared to be so. As he finished 
the perusal of this tissue of falsehoods. Dr. Larkin, addressing his reverend 
visitor ; declared in the most emphatic terms that he did believe in the conwut- 
7iion of spirits ; did realize that they could, and had through the organism 
of the unfortunate Mary Jane again and again communicated with him ; 
that he reiterated and repeated the truth of all he had ever said on the sub- 
ject ; and he then asked if Mr. Horace James, after such a statement, could 
require of him to append his name to a document which would proclaim him 
a liar and utterly unworthy of the name of a Cliristian man? Mr. James 
coldly replied that his signature to that document was the only condition on 
which he could be received back into the church ; whereupon Dr. Larkin 
signed his name, handed the report to Mr. James, and declaring that it was 
the greatest lie that ever was written, and that he [Mr. James], as a Chris- 
tian minister, ought to be ashamed to admit such a liar into his church, burst 
into a passion of tears, Avhilst the Rev. Horace James departed, exulting in 
his triumph, and proclaiming to all his parishioners that Dr. Larkin was once 
more a member of his church in good standing ! No comment on this trans- 
action is necessary. Its principal details were received by the author from 
the lips of Dr. Larkin himself, who never made the least attempt to extenu- 
ate his own perfidy in the signature of the disgraceful document above 
alluded to, except by reaffirming the sufferings he had undergone, the ruin- 
ous issues to his family if he persisted in refusing, and the impossibility of his 
believing in his own mind that a Christian minister would degrade his sacred 
office to push him to the last fearful extremity, and then admit into his 
church a man who had \vritten himself unworthy of credit in any direction. 

The subsequent career of Dr. Larkin, though containing a vast array of 
deeply-interesting phenomena, does not belong to this history. 

It is as much as our space will allow, to advert to the fact that fresh suc- 
cessions of spiritual outpourings rendered the famous report of the Rev. 
Horace James worthless as testimony against Spiritualism. Dr. Larkin' s 
estimable companion passed away, soon after the last-named events, to the 
spirit-world ; and besides departing in the full and triumphant faith of being 
cheered in her dying hour by the presence of hosts of the beloved dead, and 
that the ministry of her spirit relatives sped her parting soul to the bright 
homes of eternity, this glorified spirit, soon after her transition, commenced 
a series of manifestations, which brought conviction to numbers of his friends 
and neighbors that the doctor's wife was with liim still, and guided, cheered, 



1 64 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

and sustained him, through Hfe's rough pilgrimage, during every hour of the 
passing day and night. 

On several occasions of imminent danger this bright spirit saved her hus- 
band's life and that of certain others from railway accidents, and finally 
succeeded in bringing conviction of the immortality of her purified soul, and 
its continued communion with earth, to many who had formerly been his 
bitterest and most active persecutors. 

These results, however, were not achieved without a system of opposition 
and superstitious folly, little short of what has already been narrated. The 
narrow-minded bigots of Wrentham and adjoining villages strove to legislate 
against the onward sweep of the tide of progress, and dictate laws and boun- 
dary lines to the dwellers of the unknown spiritual country. They might as 
well have passed resolutions against the intiux of sunlight or star beams — 
Spiritualism "broke out" in Boston, and every hamlet, town or city in its 
vicinity, whilst at least one-third of the inhabitants, including those who had 
been most active in the crusade against Dr. Larkin and the hapless Mary 
Jane, contributed to swell the vast and overwhelming annies wliich now make 
up the hosts of Spiritualism in New England. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND CONTINUED — BOSTON. 

" Oh the spacious grand plantation 

Over there, 
Shining like a constellation 

Over there. 
Holy with a consecration 
From all tears and tribulation. 
From all crime, and grief, and care 
To all uses good and fair. 

Over there ! " 

The Spiritual Philosopher — Mediums in Boston — Rev. Allen Putnam and 
Natty, a Spirit — Spirit Manhood and Earthly Childhood Explained — 
Banner of Light — Dr. Gardner in California — His "Mission" — The 
Boston Spiritual Rostrum — Miss- Burbank's "Circles" — Correspondence. 

The public progress of Spiritualism in Boston, " the Athens of America" 
and centre of New England thought, was far less marked and distinctive in 
its earlier phases than that of New York. This is due, no doubt, in part to 
the peculiar reticence of the New England character, since we have abun- 
dance of evidence that phenomena Avere as frequent and powerful in various 
families in Boston as they were in any other "part of the States; yet it is not 
even now our privilege to speak of many of these manifestations, occurring 
as they did in great numbers, though entirely within the privacy of the 
domestic circle. 

The first public evidences that were given of " the power" in Boston, came 
through the mediumship of Mrs. Margaretta Cooper, the daughter of the 
eminent writer and lecturer, LeRoy Sunderland. Besides his married 
daughter, Mrs. Cooper, other members of Mr. Sunderland's family were 
gifted in a remarkable degree with mediumistic powers, and Dr. Larkin, the 
physician mentioned in the last chapter, together with many other reliable 
witnesses, affirm that they could obtain satisfactory responses, by raps and 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 165 

movements of a cradle, through the mediumship of Mrs. Cooper's infant, only 
seven months of age. When Mr. Sunderland first discovered that his family 
were endowed with these remarkable gifts, his enthusiastic delight knew no 
bounds. He threw open his house to the public and courted general inves- 
tigation through his mediums. 

In i<S5o, he commenced the publication of a paper entitled the Spiritual 
Philosopher, from the pages of which the following account of the manifesta- 
tions in his family may be learned : 

"The mysterious sounds have been made in nearly all the rooms of our house, and have 
been heard at different times by different people. They have been made spontaneously in 
all parts of the house by day and night. Articles of furniture have been moved often, and 
at times with considerable force. The spirits have made musical sounds, which we have 
heard and know were not made by any human power. The members of our family and 
strangers present have been often touched and handled by the spirits. 

" Manifestations have been made by spirits to our sense of sight. The responses to 
questions are given freely at our table, during meal times, which are thus prolonged often 
to an hour and a half by conversation with our heavenly visitants 

" They came through Mrs. Margaretta S. Cooper generally, but we have had responses 
also through our second daughter, Sarah, and also through our gi-andcliild, Mrs. Cooper's 
babe, when only two months old 

" Communications have been vouchsafed to us, as we believe, from the higher spheres, 
giving important information relating more or less to the spiritual dispensation now open- 
ing to the universe of human beings 

" I can only say my heart is full, and had I ten thousand tongues, it seems to me as if I 
^ould use them all in blessing the angelic hosts who have thus taken possession of my earthly 
sphere. I now enjoy a heaven far more real than any I had ever been taught to antici- 
pate." 

Such expressions as these fill up 'the pages of the Spiritual Philosopher, 
conveying the unmistakable impression to all that perused them that their 
author was transported beyond the plane of calm and rational observation, 
and amply preparing the more coldly philosophic for the great reaction 
which, in Mr. Sundeiland's case, as in many others, has followed upon a 
too-yielding faitli, especially in the infallibility of the inteUigersce communi- 
cated. 

Despite the claim on the part of the spirits that the telegraphy was " new 
and very impeifectly understood, even by them," whilst with mortals it was 
continually being destroyed for lack of proper understanding and requisite 
conditions, Mr. Sunderland persisted that no mistakes could occur through 
his nieduun, etc.; hence it is not surprising that, in addition to inevita- 
ble contradictions of this position, supplied by the spirits themselves, Mr. 
Sunderland had the mortification to fall into a trap prepared for him, which 
completely annihilated his claim to the establishment of a reliable communion 
between the two worlds. 

His excessive disgust at this one marked failure, seemed to create a revul- 
sion of feeling which prepared the talented editor of the Spiritual Philosopher 
for discomfiture at every turn. 

Forgetful of the lessons he had himself inculcated on the effect of prede- 
termined opinions in psychological experiments, he — a most powerful pathol- 
ogist — brought to the spirit circle feelings of distrust and aversion which his 
recent failure had awakened. 

The result was precisely what the learned lecturer would now teach his 
scholars to anticipate. His own condition of mind became impressed upon 
his media, neutralized the magnetism of the spirits, resulted in failure and 
contradictions, and thi-ew the balance of his prepossessions into the opposite 



l66 HISTORY OF MODERN 

scale, inducing him to write of the once highly-prized communion with spirits 
in a tone of bitterness only equalled by his former credulity. 

The effect upon the community, however, proved the truth of the adage 
that "in individual failures the world grows wise," and, "in personal experi- 
ences, all mankind is experimenting." 

The genuine facts evolved by Mrs. Cooper's remarkable mediumship ex 
tended far beyond her family circle, and their influence is felt to this day. 
Various tests of spiritual identity, rendered to total strangers, were published 
by them in different sections of the country, and though their lack of variety 
from preceding records does not justify their reproduction in these pages, 
they are numerous and well-attested enough to have proved the truth of 
spiritual telegraphy had they existed alone and unsustained by collateral evi- 
dence. Good Mr. Sunderland's strong hand and vigorous pen were tempo- 
rarily borrowed by the spirit-world to set the ball in motion, but it was no 
more given to him to retard its progress than tlie Newtonian philosophy was 
adequate to the production of any cause which could arrest the motion of 
planets assumed to have received their "primitive impulse" from the hand 
of the great Creator himself; and thus the excitement produced in the public 
mind by Mrs. Cooper's mediumship stimulated the community to eager re- 
search, promoted the formation of numerous circles, and the development 
of many very excellent and reliable public mediums ; amongst these, we 
may name Mrs. Helen I^eeds, a lady whose gifts in the direction of trance, 
impression, personation, and clairvoyance were the means of convincing 
hundreds of sceptics who attended her seances. 

In the progress of the movement, agreeable social re-unions were held at 
Mrs. Leeds's residence every week, where the highest order of mind and talent 
might be found assembled, to interchange kindly greetings, and receive the 
precious evidences of spiritual presence and communion which were sponta- 
neously rendered by numerous media who attended the meetings, and v/hose 
varied powers became thus focalized into a common centre. Mrs. Sisson, a 
fine clairvoyant physician ; Mrs. Hayden, Miss Little, Miss Burbank, Mrs. 
Langford, and Mrs. A. E. Newton, were also found to be admirable opera- 
tors for the great spiritual telegraphy which now began to flash its messages 
of immortal love and wisdom across a net-work of wires inclosing the whole 
State of Massachusetts. Mr. John M. Spear, a Universalist clergyman distin- 
guished in the temperance, anti-slavery, and other philanthropic movements, 
became a writing and impressible medium, and by his remarkable methods 
of procedure — to be hereafter narrated — contributed not a little to the 
notoriety of the cause. 

In 1853 Mr. and Mrs. Newton, noAV long and favorably known in the 
spiritualistic ranks for devotion to the cause and brilliant ability in its sup- 
port, addressed a published statement of their views of spirit communion to 
the Edwards Street Congregational Church, in Boston, the result of which 
was their separation therefrom and adherence to the cause of Spiritualism, to 
which Mrs. Newton devoted her powers as a medium, whilst Mr. Newton 
became the editor of the New England Spiritualist^ and subsequently of 
the Spiritual Age^ two of the best written and ablest journals vdiich New 
England has ever contributed to the sum of spiritual literature. 

In 1853 the Rev. Allen Putnam, formerly a Unitarian minister, and sub- 
sequently a merchant and editor of the New England Farmer, gave by 
invitation a fine scholarly lecture at the Melodeon, in Boston, on the truths 
of spirit communion, as proved to his mind by a most thorough and search- 
ing investigation into the p)henomena. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 167 

The unimpeachable integrity of Mr. Putnam's character, and his high 
standing ni the community, added force to his cahii reasoning and acute 
logic, and induced a vast number of persons to follow his footstef)S in the 
path of industrious research into Spiritualism. 

Mr. Putnam published several excellent pamphlets, some of which were 
narratives of his exhaustive investigations, others, arguments for the use and 
divine order manifest in spiritual revelations. One of the works from this 
valuable source was a little brochii?'e, entitled "Natty, a Spirit," in Avhich the 
author relates his intercourse with a wonderful spirit child who passed into 
the higher spheres of existence after a brief sojourn of a few days on earth. 
Natty reported himself to Mr. Putnam through almost every medium with 
Avhom he came in contact. He claimed Mr. and Mrs. Putnam as his father 
and mother on earth by adoption of his own will. He gave convincing and 
satisfactory proofs of his real parentage and identity ; but with a delightful 
way^vardness, bright wit, and yet weird affection, especially manifested towards 
Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, he insisted on constituting himself a part of their family, 
joining them at meals, guarding them in danger, prescribing for them in sick- 
ness, and by a thousand pretty diverting tricks, innocent yet Puck-like in their 
singular ingenuity, he constantly manifested his presence in their household 
and proved the freedom from care or depression enjoyed by the enfranchised 
sjDirits of the sphere to which this happy being belonged. Natty succeeded, 
through a great variety of mediums, and with the aid of Mr. C. L. Fenton, 
an artist of Boston, in representing himself in a fanciful picture, crowded 
Avifh allegorical objects, vivid coloring, and all that symbolical form of im- 
ager5 in which the bright inhabitants of the higher spheres delight to instruct 
earth's duller intellects through the science of correspondences. 

The picture of Natty still in the possession of Mr. Putnam, of Roxbury, 
represents the youthful spirit as he always appeared to mediums, namely, a 
curly-headed child of about four years old, with a sweet, wise face, redolent 
of thought and intellect far in advance of his juvenile fomr. As the history 
of " Natty, the Spirit," was the subject of much comment, considerable inter- 
est, and the usual amount of ribald insolence directed by the press against the 
•'senile credulity of Mr. Putman," whose talents and standing forbade an at- 
tack in any other direction, we shall give an extract from the published ac- 
counts of the little gentlemaii s sayings and doings explanatory of his appear- 
ance on earth as a child, when according to all the corroborative statements 
of spirits, the soul grows as surely from infancy to maturity in the spheres as 
during its tenancy of a mortal body, and as little Natty' s earth origin proved 
him to have been an inhabitant of thirty-five years' standing in spirit land, his 
juvenile appearance and style of communication was as puzzling to the Spir- 
itualists as it was a subject of scathing ridicule to unbelievers. The follow- 
ing communication, published in the New England Sj>i?-itualist, was given to 
Mr. Putman tlirough one of the most reliable test mediums of the city. 

"Dear Father, — Do let me call you thus, for you are indeed my spirit father. To- 
wards you first did my spirit experience filial feelings. 

"My stay in the body was too short for me to learn on earth what those feelings were, 
I nevei knew an earthly father. When first vvc met at the medium's table " [when Natty 
was communicating with his brother and Mr. Putnam happened to be present] "your words 
and tones awakened in me feelings that I had never known before. 

" Upon describing those feelings to spirits of more experience than myself, they told me 
that such were filial emotions — the sentiments which an affectionate cbUd on earth cherishes 
towards its earthly parent. 

" Having first experienced those feelings towards you, you are my father more truly 
than you had supposed. 



l68 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

"I Lave come to you as the laughing, playful child, while in reality I am a full-gro^vT^ 
spirit ; but in earth's ways I am still but a child, and so the child's form becomes me best 
for the purpose of your recognizing my true state, and the accomplishment of the aims for 
which I come to earth 

"yVs a spirit, I am full grown ; as a child of earth I am little more than an infant, ignor- 
ant of earth's experiences and trials. In these, you are my teacher, while in spiritual mat- 
ters I can help you I need much aid which you can give 

Strange as it may seem, those who leave the form in early life must return and come in close 
alliance with the world before they can learn some lessons which are essential to the highest 
elevation in the spheres. 

" None of us can lay the foundation of an all-embracing charity unless we learn by con- 
tact with man on earth, his weakness, sorrows, and temptations 

By your example, help, and associations, I can learn best those life lessons which teach 
charity for all, without which I cannot ascend nearer and ever nearer to the common 
Father of us all. Spirits in the spheres do not usually learn their need of accurate knowl- 
edge of earth-life until they are thirty years old or more. Sympathy, affection for pa- 
rents, or other motives of attraction, draw the childish spirit back to its home and relatives. 
But before the age of thirty it seldom returns to study thoroughly human conditions, and 
learn those lessons of deepest wisdom which are essential to the human soul's highest devel- 
opment. It is for these purposes I now come In the close connection 

which you permit between myself and you, I am, as it were, experiencing earth-life — living 
your life, experiencing j'our external and internal struggles, and somewhat sorrowing and 
rejoicing with you. Measurably, my progress is Imked with yours; whatever is for your 
good helps me; your harm is mine also." 

Much more to the same effect was given on this occasion, and here it may 
be remarked that this singular statement is confirmed by a vast array of testi- 
mony in similar spirittial communications. Children's spirits, even from the 
most rudimental periods of life, are always represented as growing to a glo- 
rious spiritual maturity, during which, or after its attainment, they are com- 
pelled for the purposes of full development, to acquire an intimate knowledge 
of that life from which they are physically but not spiritually removed. The 
experiences from which they are cut off by early death are essential, as it 
would appear, to their spiritual perfection, and hence, have to be acquired 
through a set of conditions vague and incomprehensible to us, but dimly shad- 
owed forth in the ideas relating to "familiar" and "guardian spirits," also in 
the philosophy of " medium spirits," of which more will be said in our second 
volume. 

Quite early in the spiritual movement, Mr. Bela Marsh opened a publish- 
ing office in Boston, which, up to the day of his departure for a better world, 
some few months since, continued to be a source of incalculable use to the 
cause, by putting into circulation a mass of spiritual literature, every page 
of v/hich has performed its work of missionary labor to the world. 

For the last few years, mediumistic seances, conferences, and Sunday meet- 
ings have been held in the same building Avith Marsh's book store ; so in the 
quiet seclusion of 14 Bromfield street, the written thoughts and spoken 
words of this great movement have always found a fitting and continuous 
representation. 

In Boston was, and still is published one of the most invaluable mission- 
aries the cause of Spiritualism has ever enjoyed, namely, the Banner of 
Light, acknowledged to be amongst the ablest and most liberally conducted 
papers in America. As we shall have occasion to make frequent mention 
of this excellent periodical in the course of our history, of which, indeed, the 
Banner of Light forms an integral part, we shall reserve a detailed descrip- 
tion of its origin and status for another occasion. 

As the history of Spiritualism in Boston is peculiarly the biography of 
individuals, it would be as ungrateful as almost impossible to omit men- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 169 

tioning the name of Dr. Gardner, formerly of Springfield, Massachusetts, 
who was one of the earliest, as he has been one of the bravest and most 
devoted champions of the cause, from its commencement to its present 
status. 

Within a few months after the Rochester knockings had become a matter 
of general comment. Dr. Gardner, then a physician in large practice in 
Springfield and a successful operator in animal magnetism, became interested 
in the rappings, and in connection with Mr. Rufus Elmer, a highly-respected 
citizen and now a prominent Spiritualist, held circles for development, at 
which several of the most astounding phases of the phenomena were wit- 
nessed. Floatings in the air — occurring in the mediumship of Messrs. D. D. 
Home and H. Gordon — raps, clairvoyance, and extraordinary cases of heal- 
ing, became so common in Springfield that even the usual animosity of the 
secular press could make no headway against the facts, and the Springfield 
Repicblican, a local, though very widely-circulated journal, became crowded 
with records of marvellous and well-attested phenomena. As they do not 
now present any feature of novelty, it is needless to repeat them ; suffice it to 
say that their effect upon the inhabitants of Springfield was to make thou- 
sands of converts in the first five years of the movement, amongst whom was 
Dr. Gardner. At the urgent solicitation of spirit friends. Dr. Gardner, about 
1849, undertook to accompany a relative who sailed his own ship to Cali- 
fornia. 

The exact nature of his "mission" in this voyage, beyond the benefit of 
his health, he was entirely at a loss to divine, for humanly speaking he had no 
motiv(? whatever to prompt him, except the urgent appeal of spirits and a con- 
catenation of circumstances which seemed to force him into the undertakinof. 
During the voyage, his benevolent desu-e to heal the afflicted prompted him 
to try the effect of magnetism on one of the crew, a poor Chinaman, who lay 
sick, in mortal agony and danger of immediate dissolution. Dr. Gardner not 
only succeeded in relieving the sufferer and restoring him to health by mag- 
netic passes, but he also evolved medium pov/ers in his patient, through whose 
gift of rapping the doctor could communicate freely with his friends in the 
spirit-world. 

By a chain of circumstances seemingly fortuitous, this Chinaman was left 
ashore at Hong Kong, from whence subsequent accounts brought the tidings 
that "the rappings had broken out" in that place through a Chinese sailor, 
and that the "power" was spreading like a contagion, until spirit circles and 
spirit mediums became as popular and fashionable in the Celestial Empire as 
opium and souchong. , 

Landing for a few days at San Francisco, and still unable to discover any 
other purpose in his long voyage than his restoration to health and the medi- 
umistic development of the Chinese sailor, Dr. Gardner determined to return 
with his relation in the ship which had brought him out, when, only the day 
before they were to sail, he was accosted by a total stranger, who met him on 
the wharf, and with some awkward apology for his intrusion, suddenly, and for 
no cause that he could assign, addressed him and asked him if he knew any- 
thing about these "new spirit rappings." 

Astonished as he was at being thus accosted, Dr. Gardner courteously 
replied in the affirmative, when the stranger acknowledged that he felt 
impressed beyond his power of resistance to put the question, adding that the 
rappings and other strange phenomena had transpired in his family, and that 
himself and friends were much alarmed, yet wholly ignorant of the best meth- 
ods of procedure. 



lyo HISTORY OF MODERN 

He added that it had been communicated to them through this mysterious 
inteihgence that a stranger would shortly arrive at San Francisco, ivho luoidd 
direct them how to proceed and clear up the doubt and uncertainties undei 
which they then labored. 

Both Dr. Gardner and his new friend were powerfully impressed with the 
belief that this meeting was not merely accidental, and accompanying the 
stranger to his home, Dr. Gardner visited, counselled, and instructed the per- 
plexed mediums, gave them the advantage of his valuable experience, encour- 
aging some, strengthening and magnetizing others, settling many difficul- 
ties, and wisely organizing the scattered forces into well-regulated circles. 
He also distributed amongst them a goodly pile of spiritual literature with 
which he had suj^plied himself, and took leave of his grateful new acquaint- 
ances happy in the conviction that his mission was now fulfilled in planting 
Spiritualism on the remote shores of China in the East, and California in the 
far West. We must here add, we have the best authority for stating that 
Dr. Gardner's obedience to spiritual monitions has been fruitful of good and 
blessing in more ways than those detailed above, and besides sowing seeds of 
immortal light and beauty in distant lands, it has been productive of changes 
in the good missionary's own condition, essential to the outworking of his 
momentous life -history. On his return home. Dr. Gardner took up his resi- 
dence in Boston, where he became the sole and indefatigable entrepreneur 
of the great Sunday gatherings which for twelve years have instructed thou- 
sands of astonished and delighted auditors in the sublime and soul-stirring 
truths of " Natural theology" taught by spirits. 

Thomas Gales Forster, Mrs. Henderson, now Mrs. Middlebrook [one of 
the sweetest and most eloquent trance speakers of the day], Mrs. Cora Hatch, 
Miss Fannie Davies, Emma Hardinge, and Rosa Amedey, were amongst the 
first and most popular of the trance speakers who filled the rostrum at the 
old Melodeon, Boston, where from a thousand to fifteen hundred persons 
assembled each Sabbath afternoon and evening, to hear their teachings, and 
listen to the apt and felicitous answers that were rendered, through their en- 
tranced lips, to the most difficult questions propounded by strangers in the 
audience. All the speakers above named were not only extemporaneous, 
but most commonly gave discourses selected for them by a committee chosen 
from the audience after they had taken their seats on the platform. Even 
the bitterest of the opposition accorded to these orations the merit of being 
unsurpassed in style, diction, and oratory, while they were often profound in 
logic, learning, historical research, and science. Miss Rosa Amedey, a charm- 
ing trance speaker, since translated to the bright realms of which she so elo- 
quently discoursed, together with Mr. A. B. Whiting, a young man of fair 
natural abilities, but marvellous intellectual powers under the spiritual aflla- 
tus, generally followed their discourses by poems improvised upon the spot, 
upon any subject the audience might select through committees. Many 
other speakers besides those named above were invited to fill the rostrum ; 
all were more or less attractive. The severe New England climate often 
militated against attendance at the meetings, and the most powerful opposi- 
tion that ever was levelled against any portion of the spiritual movement was 
directed against these obnoxious but deeply momentous gatherings. All was 
in vain, however. They were often thronged to overflowing, whilst the week 
evening meetings which were always given when Cora Flatch or Emma Ilar- 
dmge lectured in Boston were literally crowded to suffocation. These gath- 
erings, the admission for which was the trifling charge of one dime, woxo. 
conducted and sustained with all their fluctuations of occasional financial 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. . 171 

losses by Dr. Gardner, whose zeal and enterprise in this, as in eveiy other 
spiritualistic movement, was unflagging and disinterested. 

Delightful picnic parties and grove-meetings, often attended by rnany 
thousands of persons, were also organized by this gentleman. Conventions, 
conferences, and debates, ever found him in his place, and being a clear and 
sensible speaker, his services were frequently in request to fill the desk at 
various New England meetings. 

His championship of this unpopular cause, no less than the fact of his 
being the noted entrepreneur of the principal public meetings held in Bos- 
ton, frequently brought him into collision with the press, clergy, lyceum, and 
finally with the creme de la creine of science, learning, and religion combined, 
to wit, the professors of Harvard University, whose position on this globe 
may be defined as follows: "America is the greatest country of the earth — 
Boston is the greatest city of America — Cambridge is the brain of Bos- 
ton — Harvard College is Cambridge, and the Harvard professors are 
the world!" but as an easier definition than the above is rendered by Bostoni- 
ans themselves, when they declare that "Boston is the 'Hub' of the uni- 
verse," so the position of the Harvard professors in reference to the universe 
may ht better understood than expressed. In the following chapter will be 
found an account of the famous Harvard investigation, in which the profes- 
sors of that distinguished seat of learning undertook to explain to mankind, 
now and forevermore, what Spiritualism was not ; but as the entrance of these 
mighty magnates on the scene indicates the commencement of a new act in 
the living drama of which we write, we shall reserve theii" experiences for an- 
other chapter, and drop the curtain on this by a few extracts from the Spiritual 
Telegraph's correspondence on the status of Spiritualism in Boston from 
1850 to 1857. 

'"SPIRITUALISM IN BOSTON.'— FROM OUR BOSTON CORRESPONDENT. 

"Dear Telegraph, — The spiritual movement in Boston has some interesting features 
which your readers may desire to become intimate with. I will tlierefore endeavor to give 
them a glimpse of some of the phases the present exhibits, assuring them that at no time 
since the dawn of the spiritual advent has there been so varied and so intense a devotion 
here to the investigation of this important subject. Doctors, lawyers, clergymen, merchants, 
city officers, judges, ect., as well as the 'common people,' who anciently 'heard Jesus 
gladly,' are all 'with one accord,' engaged in making earnest inquiries as to the truth of 
Spiritualism, and the facilities for the investigations are now quite numerous and perfect 
as compared with any former state of the movement, with a good prospect of still gi"eater 
perfection and usefulness in the future. So you see there is now very little chance of this 
matter ' dying out,' as some ' wise ones' have flattered themselves, from time to time, would 
soon be the case." 

"SPIRITUAL CIRCLES. 

" Our spiritual circles here are quite numerous and very varied. I attended one lately 
of which Miss Burbank is — humanly speaking — the presiding spirit. Miss B. is a trance 
medium of the first order, and gives evidence of superior spirit control and inspiration. 
She holds four circles every week, each of which is different from the others in the specific 
objects it has in view. One of these circles is called the ' Benevolent Circle,' whose purpose 
is to elevate persons in the spirit-life who need to come again into contact with earth so as 
to get such instruction and magnetism as will in some measure compensate for their lack 
of basic developments in this life. Some time ago I was present at this circle, when idiots, 
criminals, and others of like condition, presented themselves through the medium, in con- 
nection with beings of superior intelligence, and it was very curious to witness the exhibi- 
tions of the various degrees of mentality which were made manifest. 

"I remember that, on the occasion referred to, Washington Goode, 'One-Eyed Thomp- 
son,' and others of the same stamp, were permitted to communicate, which they did in 
perfect character, abating, of course, anything criminal. Thompson, it seemed, being very 
much advanced because of a superior iiitellect and veiy warm domestic affections, was per- 



172 . HISTORY OF MODERN 

mitted to have the charge of Goode, for the purpose of raising him to a higher condition. 
This he could do more readily than those much more elevated, because of his affinity with 
Goode's condition, which, of course, brought them nearer together and enabled Thompson 

to work more effectually for the other's welfare 

"Idiots, too, were brought to this circle for education; and it was very pleasing to see 
how, as they came, from time to time they were Manifestly improved by the communion. 
At each successive visit they would get some new idea, and gave evidence of decided im- 
provement in mental development. They were always brought by some benevolent spirits, 
whose delight it was to be thus engaged, and who would have the full charge of unfolding 
the powers of the previously blank intellect 

" STRIKING TESTS. 

"Among the many tests of the presence and identity of spirits, perhaps none are more 
remai'kable than those which have lately transpired at the Fountain House, in this city. I 
recently met a noted medium there, who, I was previously informed, never made a tingle 
mistake in his tests. His method of giving tests is for the inquiring party to fix the mind 
distinctly on some question, without uttering a word, and say to the spirit, in the same 
mental way, ' If the answer be affirmative, please signify it by touching some article in the 
room; if negative, some other article' — in either case ;«i?«^a//)/ naming the article in ques- 
tion. Being previously informed of the method, I sat one day by the medium's side, took 
his hand, and mentally said, 'If my giiiding spirit be present, will he take the medium to a 
writing which hangs in the room; and touch a certain name, among seven names Vv'hich are 
attached to it?' When I had fairly formed this question in my thoughts, the medium sud- 
denly stood upon his feet, led me into the middle of the room, turned quickly round, facing 
the writing referred to in my mental question, v/alked up to it without hesitation, and then 
drew his index finger three times across the name referred to ! To me, at least, this was a 
very fair proof of some ability to read thought. Whether that ability was the man's own 
mind, or a mind foreign to his, is a legitimate question to ask, and one which should be 
ansAvered as well by the psychologist as by the Spiritualist. But however this may be, it is 
certain that the medium was tested in this way several times, and always with similar results. 

"Another test medium, much more remarkable, has lately been stopping at the Fountain 
House, who has given very great satisfaction to all who have met her. I refer. to Miss 
Coggswell, of Vermont.- The peculiarity of her mediumship consists in the fact that, in 
answer to any mental questions, writings are readily made upon her arms and forehead in 
raised letters, the color of blood ! The questioner sits near the medium, in company with 
several other persons, all in broad daylight, asks any mental questions he chooses, and the 
answer soon appears as described. These words are raised upon the arm or forehead, and 
made in somewhat large characters. I had the privilege lately of seeing the words ' Dr. 
Woodward ' standing out in bold relief, and in the color of blood, on the forehead of the 
medium, in response to a mental question from Dr. Gardner, the present keeper of the 
Fountain House. The medium was sitting in a circle of several persons at the time, in 
broad daylight, her hands resting upon her lap, and the party were watching her arms to 
see the writing appear there; but after looking in that direction some time in vain, some 
one happened to look into her face, and saw the above name standing out boldly before the 
eyes of the company. Dr. Woodward — the former superintendent of the Insane Hospital 
at Worcester, Massachusetts — was, in this life, an intimate friendof Di-. Gardner's and pro- 
fesses iiow to be his guardian spirit. 

" A short time ago some person who had lost a friend by being shot in the heart, desired 
a test, through this medium, of the presence of that friend. Several persons watched her 
arms very closely, expecting every minute to see some writing of the name, date of death, 
age, cause of departure, etc., but much to their disappointment, nothing was seen. After 
wondering much at this negative result, and regretting it in no small degree, some one took 
hold of one of the medium's arms and turned it over, when, strange and most incredible 
as it may seem, there stood out boldly, raised above the ordinary surface of the arm, the 
figiu-e of a human heart, clearly defined and painted in blood ! But what was most remark- 
able of all was the very distinct appearance of a wound in the heart, as if made by a bullet! 
This medium has no disagreeable sensations in the production of these writings; and, if I 
mistake not, she has no peculiar sensations at all. She is very passive in her temperament 
and general condition, which no doubt greatly favors the production of these tests. She is 
truly a wonder to all who have witnessed these unique exhibitions, among whom have been 
several highly scientific persons of this city, Dr. Bell, of Cambridge, being among the num- 
ber. Thus the external evidences of Spiritualism accumulate with increasing force, and 
promise, at no distant day, the conversion of all who need them." 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 173 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SPRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND — BOSTON AND THE HAR- 
VARD PROFESSORS. 

"Base of heart ! They vilely barter 
Honor's wreath for worldly place ; 
Step by step on Heaven's charter 
Leaving footprints of disgrace. 



"Know we notour dead are looking 

Downward, with a sad surprise, 
All our strife of words rebuking 
With their mild and loving eyes." 

J. G. Whittier. 

Harvard College — Frederick Willis, the Divinity Student — The Traf 
Circle — The People's Teachers — The "Faculty" and Spiritualism — Rev. 
Theodore Higginson, 

Time has conclusively proved that the action of individuals has had little 
or no influence on the progress of the vast and ever-onward march of Spirit- 
ualism ; yet assuming that there may arise very important changes between 
the then and now, and the now and hereafter, in human opinions, whether 
of persons or communities, it may be a matter of historical interest to know 
what were the opinions of the learned professors of Harvard College, on the 
subject of Spiritualism, in 1857. 

The following narrative will be found to contain one of the most marked 
evidences of this nature that the history of Spiritualism affords. 

Numerous instances occur in the experiences of mediums, wherein certain 
of the Harvard professors have severally and singly investigated the subject, 
and even become openly avowed advocates of its sublime realities ; but 
in the following incidents the actors assume an amount of representative 
authority which lays the burden of their conduct on the college, rather than on 
the individual members thereof, and as it is to the church and lyceum as 
institutions, that the people have the right to look for teaching and guidance 
in mooted points of religion and science, it affords us an instructive lesson to 
contemplate the aspect of the Cambridge University towards Spiritualism in 

1857. 

It was some time in the fall of 1855 that Mr. Frederick Willis, a divinity 
student, of Harvard College, became the subject of certain wonderful phe- 
nomenal experiences, which ultimately confirmed him and his friends in the 
belief that he was a " medium " for communion with departed spirits. The 
power which fell upon Mr. Willis was entirely unsought for and unwelcome, 
but the phenomena were abundant and wholly spontaneous. They consisted 
of visions, trances, premonitions, clear sight, impressions, raps and powerful 
movements of jponderable bodies, and when, at the earnest solicitation of 
friends, he was induced to sit for manifestations in circles, it was found that 
musical instruments could be played upon by spirits, direct writing be pro- 
duced, and extraordinary test revelations communicated through a variety of 
physical as well as intellectual methods. 

Mr. Willis's position procured him access to the first circles in Massachu- 
setts, whilst his wonderful phenomenal endowments and high moral character 
rendered him an attractive and honored visitor wherever he went. 



174 HISTORY OF MODERN 

His exceedingly fragile health, melancholy and studious temperament, 
and certain religious scruples peculiar to his views and educational preju- 
dices, rendered him conscientiously slow to admit the possibility of spirit 
communion. 

When, at length, his reason and judgment were convinced, his natural re- 
serve and extreme sensitiveness disposed him to shrink Avith painful reticence 
from the incessant publicity which the curiosity of his friends drew upon him. 
A gentle and yielding disposition more than balanced his reserve, and at 
length forced him into constantly-widening circles, where his astonishing gifts 
of mediumship became the means of convincing hundreds of the best informed 
and most influential persons of the State. 

In the spring of 1857, and just as Mr. Willis was about to proceed to his 
" recitations," a lady sought admission to his chamber, announcing herself as 

Mrs. H , a person deeply interested in Spiritualism, and a member of a 

family with whom Mr. Willis had some acquaintance. 

Besides her plea of intimacy with mutual friends, and their common faith, 
Mrs. H. urged her desire to convert her son-in-law, Mr. Eustis, a well-known 
professor of Harvard College, and, as Mr. Willis was aware, an openly 
avowed sceptic and bitter opponent of the new spiritualistic movement. 
Mrs. H. stated that herself and many of her friends, sincerely interested in 
Spiritualism, were most anxious to secure the services of Mr. Willis at a 
seance with Professor Eustis, whose convictions, however obstinate, they were 
quite sure "must yield before the astounding proofs of spirit communion 
which Mr. Willis could afford." 

The lady pleaded her cause with almost irresistible logic. Mr. Willis's 
"high standing, and unimpeachable integrity, his entire disinterestedness and 
the utter absence of motive for imposture — all this combined with his con- 
vincing gifts of mediumship, were precisely the conditions required to affect 
such a mind as that of Professor Eustis." 

The importance of such an adlierent to their cause was also urged, and all 
the motives which could influence the earnest and devout mind of the young 
divinity student were put into force to second her arguments. Against all 
this, Mr. Willis had only two causes of objection to urge ; the first Avas an 
irresistible impression of aversion to the proposed circle, and the other, the 
prudence which his peculiar circumstances seemed to call for. Not only 
Mr. Eustis, but several other of the professors as well as the president him- 
self, were known to be inimical to Spiritualism, and Mr. Willis had already 
reason to fear that his too-ready compliance with the urgent demands that 
were made upon him for his services as a medium had been injurious to his 
standing in the college. But to all this, his importunate visitant answered 
that the present opportunity would be precisely the opening for universal 
conviction which the circumstances of the case demanded ; in fact, under the 
solemn promise that he [Mr. Willis] should receive " the most candid and 
courteous treatment" from all parties invited to meet him, he at length con- 
sented to hold a seance at Mrs. H.'s residence, on an evening appointed for 
the purpose. 

The circle consisted of the lady of the house. Professor Eustis, and 
some twelve or fourteen persons who were friends or connections of the 
family. 

The company sat, as usual, around a table from which a leaf in the centre 
had been withdrawn, leaving a space for the avowed purpose of permitting 
the spirits to hand up any articles that might be placed below. 

The room v/as brilliantly lighted, and the manifestations consisted of loud 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 75 

raps, movements of the furniture, rocking the table, shaking the room, and 
beating a drum that had been placed beneath the table. 

Bells also were rung, and handed up through the open space in the table, 
and an accordion was played whilst held by one of Mr. Willis's hands only, 
the other being free and in sight of the whole party. It is proper also to 
remark that several of the tunes were played on the accordion in answer to 
mental requests of different members of the circle. 

When the hour of parting arrived, the whole of the company expressed 
themselves highly gratified, whilst Professor Eustis, with apparent sincerity, 
echoed their words. 

After this meeting Mr. Willis found his studies so seriously broken in upon 
and his health so much impaired by the practice of his mediumship, that he 
resolved to suspend his seances until the next vacation. Several weeks 
elapsed, when he was once more interrupted by a visit from Mrs. H. with an 
earnest request for another circle. On this occasion Mr. Willis urged his 
objections more strenuously than ever, and was met by still more irresistible 
importunities on the part of the lady. 

As before, her pertinacity overcame his intense dislike, and with the same 
emphatic promise of " most courteous and candid treatment," she fairly wor- 
ried the harassed student into compliance. 

The same party, including Professor Eustis, had assembled to meet Mr. 
Wihis, but just as they were about to take seats around the table, Mrs. H. 
stated that though of course they could not entertain the slightest suspicion 
of their guests, yet they had all previously agreed, on their own parts, each 
one to sit with their feet drawn back beneath their chairs; "Would Mr. 
Willis be so good as to comply with this aiTangement ?" Mr. Willis replied, 
with some surprise, that, as he had always sat with and for friends, the idea 
of imposing conditions upon him had never before been suggested; tha.t 
the manifestations were invariably of such a character as to preclude the pos- 
sibility of his interference ; nevertheless, if it was their wish, he Avould certainly 
comply with the requisition ; he only urged, with a smile, that he was then in 
such a restless and nervous condition of health that in all probability he 
might forget, and transgress the restriction, but added, still in half-jesting 
earnestness, that no manifestations had yet been given through him which 
the position of his feet could affect. Again the party grouped themselves 
around the table in a room brilliantly illuminated. The instruments, inclu- 
ding a small drum and two sticks, several bells, an accordion, a glassichord 
and its two sticks, were all arranged by the party, under the table, 
and IMr. Willis, though still entirely devoid of suspicion concerning their 
motives, observed that they placed them so far from him that, had he been 
disposed to touch them, it would have been quite impossible to have done so. 

The company arranged themselves, and their disposition brought Professor 
Eustis next to Mr. Willis. For nearly half an hour no manifestations 
occurred, nor will this surprise any investigator of spiritual phenomena, when 
they remember that Mr. Willis's extremely sensitive nature was sharpened to 
agonizing perception by excessive debility, and that he was placed next to 
one whom subsequent disclosures proved had come there remorselessly bent 
upon his detection and exposure as an impostor. 

Beyond the strange mental suffering which he endured, and which Mr. 
Willis himself describes as "unspeakable torture," no phenomena of any 
kind transpired, until the raps gave the signal for the alphabet, and directed 
that the position of the parties should be so altered as to bring Mr. Willis on 
ciae side of the table, a lady of the party next to him, and Professor Eustis at 



176 HISTORY OF MODERN 

the end of the table, with only a lady intervening between himself and the 
medium. After this change had been effected, the manifestations proceeded 
with their usual force and freedom. Amongst other phenomena, let it be 
remembered that the glassichord and the drum were skilfully played upon 
with both sticks. On the latter, a certain point of war was executed with 
great precision and force, upon which one of the ladies present asked, with 
singular emphasis, whether it was not certain that hotJi sticks must have been 
tised to produce that effect ? 

The whole party seemed to agree in the affirmative, when Mr. Willis felt 
the accordion, which had been placed far out of the reach of even his ex- 
tended feet, pressing up against his leg. He intimated this fact to the party, 
and showed them that to enable the spirits to play the instnmient, it became 
necessary that he should hold it in one hand, with the keys downwards. 

This position he accordingly took, placing his left hand on the table fully 
in sight of the whole party. The accordion resting its whole weight on Mr. 
Willis's right hand fatigued him, and involuntarily he drew his foot from be- 
neath the chair, and extended his leg for the instrument to rest against. 

The action under any circumstances was a natural, even a necessary one, 
and was executed by Mr. Willis not only upon the customary impulse of such 
occasions, but also in utter forgetfulness of the charge he had received not 
to extend his feet. 

Free as he had ever been from all intention or necessity to practice impos- 
ture, the idea had never entered his head, hence the charge he had received 
entirely escaped his memory. 

"Under any restrictions," says Mr. Willis himself, "it is morally certain that, whether 
I could have kept the idea of its necessity in mind or not, I never could long have main- 
tained any condition of restraint. Nei-vous and restless as I always am, the possibility of 
continuing in any cramped position would be with me a physical impossibility. I could not 
even at this time undertake to say that I had not changed my position many times uncon- 
sciously and involuntarily, but under the natural impulse of supporting the accordion I in- 
evitably drew my foot forward. Had I remembered the restriction I should have called 
attention to my movement, but it had long since passed from my mind." 

Following on this change of position, let it be remembered that several 
tunes v/ere well played in answer to mental requests by the company, Mr. 
WilHs holding the instrument in one hand, with the other visible to all, re- 
posing on the table. 

During the perfomiance of the music Mr. Willis frequently reahzed a 
strange touch about his limbs. He had on several occasions been drawn 
under the table bodily by the spirits and rather roughly handled. Feeling 
nervously anxious lest such an unpleasant dilemma was now about to befal 
him, he moved once or twice in his chair, but at length he distinctly felt a 
foot placed beneath his leg, and raising it up, pinned it to the under side of 
the table. For a moment he fancied it was, as usual, the vagaries of the 
spirits who were operating upon him, but the next he was undeceived by 
Professor Eustis, who, rising from the table, proceeded in the most insulting 
and violent manner to denounce him as " an impostor," and the whole of the 
manifestations as the result of the most unmitigated fraud and deception. 

At first astonishment rendered Mr. Willis speechless, but when he had suf- 
ficiently recovered his composure, he mildly yet firmly expostulated with his 
accuser, attempted to explain the incident as above stated, and appealed to 
the nature of all the manifestations produced in evidence of the utter impos- 
sibiUty of his assumed complicity. Fie cited the skilful performances or 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 77 

the dnims and glassichord, clearly requiring for their execution two sticks, 
whilst his hands were both on the table ; the tunes played on the accordion 
in answer to mental questions whilst one hand was in full view to every 
one : the obvious and simple explanation of his foot being raised in the 
endeavor to avoid the manifestations whereby Professor Eustis had been for 
some time annoying him : all this he calmly urged, and insisted that they 
proved the absurdity of any attempt to implicate him. 

The professor Avould not even hear him, and his intolerable violence in- 
creased in proportion to his victim's agitation. Feeling his strength rapidly 
failing, Mr. Willis pleaded that he should be allowed an opportunity of prov- 
ing the genuine character of his manifestations by holding another circle with 
Professor Eustis, in which he would cheerfully submit to any conditions that 
might be demanded. 

To this the professor only replied by scornfully refusing to " degrade him- 
self by any further intercourse with such an impostor." 

At this point the lady of the house interfered, and it being now fully under- 
stood that the whole circle and the preconcerted arrangements had been 
planned with her connivance as a trap for Mr. Willis, she insisted that it was 
due to herself that Mr. Willis should be allowed a fair opportunity of vin- 
dicating himself in a future sitting. As all the rest of the party joined in this 
requisition. Professor Eustis, with a veiy bad grace, yielded a reluctant assent, 
when it Avas determined that Mr. Willis should call at the professor's rooms 
the next day at four o'clock, the hour following the students' recitations, and 
there arrange to hold a circle with Professor Eustis, at such time and place, 
with such persons, and under such test conditions as should be agreed upon, 
Mr. Willis only claiming on his behalf that Professor Eustis should suspend 
his judgment and take no steps, either by word of mouth or pen, to reiterate 
the still unproved charges of the night until the investigations of the proposed 
circle should confirm or disprove them. 

To these teniis also the professor was urged by his friends to accede as 
being "simple justice" to one against whom none could fail to perceive an 
accusation, wholl}^ unsustained by the facts of the case, rested. 

When these hasty arrangements had been concluded the overstrung nerves 
of the suffering medium utterly failed him ; a constitutional tendency to syn- 
cope, induced by an affection of the heart, overcame him, and he remained 
unconscious and almost lifeless for a considerable time before he could be 
removed to a carriage and conveyed back to his lodgings. 

Fever, delirium, and the most alamiing s}anptoms, supervened. In this 
state he was found by his classmates in the morning, unable to quit his bed. 
He retained sufficient memory, however, to think of his appointment with 
Professor Eustis, and sent one of his fellow-students to report his con- 
dition, and assure the professor that he would wait upon him to carry out 
the proposed arrangement, at the very earliest period his health would 
permit. 

From this point congestion of the brain set in, and in a condition of fever, 
delirium, and intense suffering, Mr. Willis remained powerless and unable to 
quit his bed for a fortnight. W^ien at length he became convalescent, and 
appeared, still enfeebled and greatly broken in health, amongst his classmates 
again, he heard with equal astonishment and indignation that on the very 
pay succeeding the circle, though fully informed of the extremely dangerous 
condition of Mr. Willis's health. Professor Eustis had deliberately violated the 
terms of their parting agreement by spendmg the hour that should have been 
devoted to instructing his class in denouncing Mr. Willis as an impostor, and 

12 



178 HISTORY OF MODERN 

SO violent and unscrupulous had been the language used, that Mr. WilHs 
found himself the common talk and reprobation of die whole college, and 
the subject of the most injurious newspaper paragraphs. The full force of 
this dishonorable treatment, however, was not fully realized until the occasion 
of his next attendance upon recitation, when at the close of the exercises, he 
was requested by Professor Noyes to remain, and by him was informed that 
Professor Eustis had preferred against him charges of so grave a nature that 
it was deemed necessary the Faculty should consider them in an ofticial ex- 
amination. Mr. Willis replied that the injurious reports which Professor 
Eustis had circulated had led him to expect this, and in answer to the request 
of Professor Noyes that he would prepare himself to meet the Faculty, he 
expressed his entire willingness to do so " at once," when it was resolved 
that the investigation should take place on the following Friday, namely, 
March 27, 1857. 

On the morning of the appointed day, Mr. Willis received an informal 
note from Professor Noyes, to the effect that as Professor Eustis had asked 
the privilege of bringing a "friend" with him to the investigation, he, Mr. 
Willis, was at liberty to do the same. 

Nothing of the function or office which such "fi-iends" were to fill, was, 
however, suggested. 

In this dilemma, Mr. Willis, unable to procure the attendance of the parties 
he most desired, was advised to solicit the presence of the Rev. H. F. Har- 
rington, a request that was at once cheerfully acceded to by this gentleman, 
a Unitarian minister of high standing and most estimable character. 

On arriving at the appointed place, Mr. Willis — who had at first been in- 
formed by the president that his judges would only be the professors with 
whom he was acquainted ^recognized in Professor Eustis's "friend," a Dr. 
Morrell Wyman, notoriously known to Mr. Willis as an open and bitter 
antagonist of Spiritualism, and an intimate of one of his own relations, with 
whom Mr. Willis was unfortunately on very unfriendly terms. Besides these 
obvious predispositions against him, Mr. Willis was at no loss to perceive 
that Professor Eustis's "friend" had been wisely selected as exactly the non- 
professional counsel best qualified to dispose of a case wherein the defendant 
was a sick, debilitated, and almost friendless invalid. 

From the very opening of his case, Mr. Willis felt no hope or expectation 
of a successful issue. He loved and honored his professors before whom he 
stood, but the unaccountable bitterness which seemed to possess the mind 
of his accuser, and the vindictive spirit-in which his charge was made, almost 
determined him to utter no plea or enter into no contest with him. 

Still, the statements of Professor Eustis might have carried their own con- 
viction against himself before any tribunal that had not deemed it their duty 
or predilection to prejudge the case. 

Professor Eustis could not avoid mentioning the fact that several tunes 
were played in answer to mental requests ; that the drum and other instru- 
ments were manipulated with a skill and power that could only be accom- 
plished by a pair of hands at least, and that one of Mr. Willis's was always 
in sight during these performances ; furthermore, he admitted that Avhen the 
drum was executing a most vigorous tatoo, and the glassichord was beat by 
two sticks, with marvellous agility, that both Mr. Willis's hands were not only 
lying on the table in full view of the party, but that his whole body was in a 
state of unmoved repose, and not a muscle could be observed in motion. 
The professors looked puzzled, and once or twice shrewdly questioned how a 
l^air of feet could play such an instrument in such a manner at all, and still 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 7 9 

more, ho\v they could be in inconceivably violent motion below the table, 
whilst the rest of the body was in perfect passivity above it. " Did Professor 
Eustis notice the least movement of Mr. Willis's body at such times?" 

The professor could not say he did. 

" Granted that the accordion could be skilfully played upon by the feet 
and the rest of the body maintained in perfect repose — how could the said 
feet, or the said organism at all, play tunes called for by mental request of 
certain parties present ? " 

At this awkward juncture the real use of Dr. Wyman's presence became 
triumphantly manifest. Rudely breaking in upon the examination, he ex- 
claimed, " Ask Mr. Willis how all that was done ; he can tell you." Then 
turning to the defendant, he cried, in the same rough, authoritative strain, 
" Come, Mr. Willis, tell us how you did that trick ? " Mr. Willis mildly 
replied, "The Faculty have not yet called upon me for an answer; when 
they do, I will tell them all I know of the production of the manifestations." 
"But why not now?" reiterated the friend. "Are you afraid?" Again 
Mr. Willis replied, he deferred answering only to the Faculty. But the Fac- 
ulty were silent, and Dr. Wyman was permitted to continue his system of 
browbeating, until Mr. Harrington interfered, and insisted that Mr. Willis, 
sick and defenceless as he was, should not be subject to such uncalled-for 
insults. 

Whether the Harvard professors were suddenly moved by the spirit to a 
sense of their utter incapacity to judge of spiritual things, or the struggle be- 
tween their consciences and their prejudices was becoming unmanageable, it 
boots not now to inquire ; suffice it to say, the happy thought broke in upon 
them that they were not "the proper persons to decide upon such a case;" 
they believed they had "no power to pronounce upon it," etc., and having 
voted themselves into office as Mr. Willis's judges, they voted themselves out 
on the same authority, "concluded the case must be referred to a selected 
committee," and — adjourned sine die. 

Soon after this meeting, Mr. Willis received a summons to Avait upon the 
president of the college, who, in smooth and courteous phrase, reminded him 
of the "grave charges" that had been made against him, and that, under all 
the circumstances, he [the president] deemed it most expedient that Mr. Wil- 
lis should quietly retire from the college, after which in due course of time a 
select committee would be appointed to consider his case, when, "after a 
time, no doubt, all difficulties would be finally cleared away, and no doubt 
Mr. Willis might be at liberty to resume his studies as usual." 

To this specious proposition, Mr. Willis replied that the poorest criminal 
must be held innocent until his guilt could be proved ; that he, Mr. Willis, 
accused as he was, insisted upon maintaining all the privileges and immunities 
of innocence, until his guilt had been proved, or declared by a competent tri- 
bunal ; hence he declined to assume the position of guilt which his voluntary 
retirement would imply. 

The president was urgent, evidently desiring that the case should not oc- 
cupy an official place in the college records ; Mr. Willis, however, was fimi, 
and they parted on the understanding that Mr. Willis should reconsider the 
president's proposition, and communicate his decision in writing, wliich was 
done in the following letter. 



I So HISTORY OF MODERN 

"April 2., 1857. 
*' To the Rev. James Walker, D.D., President of the Faculty of the Ca7)ibridge DiviU' 
ity School: 
"Dear Sir, — I have given the proposition which you communicated to me on Tuesday 
as tlie decision of the Faculty in reference to the charges made against me by Professor 
Eustis, the most careful and mature consideration ; and I respectfully decline to initiate any 
action tending to establish my innocence, for such a course would be an utter subversion of 
all moral as well as legal propriety. 

"I stand before God and man upon my innocence, until my accusers shall have proved 
my guilt ; and I also respectfully decline to withdraw from the school pending the requisite 
investigation. I maintain there is nothing in the mere fact that such charges have been 
preferred, justly to prejudice my character or my position in the school. 

"It is the /;-(3<7/ of misconduct that should l^e allowed to affect me, and I feel that I may 
rightly claim as well as anticipate the countenance and support of the Faculty until I shall 
be tluis convicted of imposture. 

" I therefore take occasion to inform you that, at the earliest opportunity convenient with 
my health, I deem it my duty to rejoin my class. 

" I am respectfully yours, 

" F, L. H. Willis." 

To this letter Mr. Willis received the following reply : 

"Cambridge, April £,, 1S57. 

"Dear Sir, — By direction of the Faculty I communicate to you the record of the pro- 
ceedings in your case. 

"At a meeting of the Theological Faculty on Friday, March 27, 1857, a statement of 
facts alleged to have taken place at two exhibitions of what are called spiritual ?iianifesta- 
ticns was made by Professor Eustis, with the understanding that it involved the charge of 
deception and imix)sture against Mr. Frederick L. H. Willis, of the Divinity School. 

"Mr. Willis was heard in reply and denial of this charge. At an adjourned meetmg of 
the Theological Faculty, on Monday, March 30, the subject under consideration at the 
last meeting was taken up, none but members of the Faculty being present. After a long 
and serious deliberation, the Faculty came to the following conclusion : 

* ' First. That Mr. Willis had mcurred serious and grave charges coming from a respectable 
source which, unless he vindicates himself from them, will materially affect his character and 
usefulness. 

" Second. That the hearing of both parties at the last meeting did not amount to an in- 
vestigation of such a nature as would authorize this Faculty publicly to pronounce upon the 
truth or falsity of the charges in question. 

"Third. That this Faculty must decline the investigation required, on the ground that it 
would be an unsuitable tribunal for the settlement of the matter in dispute. 

"Fourth. That until the question is settled by a competent tribunal, it is proper that 
Mr. Willis's connection with the Divinity School be suspended. 

"Fifth. Whereupon, it was unanimously voted that the president be instructed to com- 
municate to Mr. Willis the above-mentioned results of the deliberation of the Faculty, with 
the understanding that Mr. Willis be allowed to withdraw from the school of his own ac- 
cord if he sees fit. 

"At a meeting of the Theological Faculty, on Friday, April 3, the president communi- 
cated a letter from Mr. Willis, from which it appeared that he declined to withdraw from 
the school as proposed : whereupon it was voted unanimously, that in cGiiformity \vith the 
conclusions arrived at by the Faculty at the last meeting, the connection of Mr. Willis with 
the Divinity School be suspended until further order of the Board. 

"By direction of the Faculty, 

" George R. Noyes, Secretary. 

"Mr. F. L. Willis," 

Let us not be deceived by high-sounding titles, nor even a popular inter- 
pretation of their meaning. "The Theological Faculty" of the Divinity 
School, Cambridge, meant a set of ministers of the gospel of love, charity, and 
truth — men who were specially qualified by their station and attainments 
not only to inculcate such principles but to teach and prepare others for their 
practice. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM, l8l 

If meant the highest authority in the land for the enforcement of the divine 
love which forgives an erring brother seventy times seven times, justifies pub- 
licans and sinners, prays for forgiveness to murderers, and teaches men only 
to expect forgiveness of their trespasses as they forgive each other. To teach 
such doctrines was what the Cambridge Theological Faculty were supported 
and paid to do. Yet this was the body of men that branded a young, feeble, 
friendless man with a stain so infamous in the act of expulsion, that it was cal- 
culated to ruin his prospects iiTetrievably in this world, and perhaps, by the 
infliction of such a penalty, to drive him into acts of criminality equally fatal 
to his hopes in the hereafter ; and all for what ? 

By their own resolutions, quoted above, they declare themselves incompe- 
tent as well as unaiLtJiorized to pronounce any judgment against Mr. Willis; 
hence they inflicted their remorseless penalty against one on whom, by their 
own acknowledgment, no verdict of guilt had been found, and in addition to 
this, every member of that Faculty must have known that the crime alleged 
by Professor Eustis was an impossible one. No reiteration of the evidence 
is necessary to justify this assertion, the charge, as made under the circum- 
stances, involving simply a set of impossible actions. Thus, on the ground of 
mere suspicion, the apostolic divines of Cambridge University determined to 
brand a helpless and unoffending being confided to their care with the doom 
which almighty justice inflicted upon the first murderer, for it is not too much 
to say that, in the present state of society, expulsion from such a scene under 
such peculiar circumstances and notorious publicity, was equivalent to send- 
ing Air. Willis forth to the world as '■'■an outcast and a vagabond^ 

As Mr. Willis's subsequent career will be found more fully detailed in the 
biographical notices of our forthcoming volume, it is only necessary to add that 
his career has not suffered by the tyranny of his ecclesiastical persecutors ; on 
the contrary, that its monstrous injustice produced a reaction in the commu- 
nity which procured for its victim warm and powerful friends, through Avhose 
influence, combined with that of the ever-faithful invisible hosts who had their 
medium in charge, he has been conducted along a pathway of honorable use- 
fullness, every step of which has been an advance in public opinion and pri- 
vate estimation, whilst the immediate consequence of Harvard intolerance 
and bigotry to the cause of Spiritualism was the publication of floods of evi- 
dence in favor of the truth of the phenomena. Our space will only allow us 
to present three extracts, all of which are pertinent to this case. The first is 
from the Boston Traveller and contains the protest of the distinguished cler- 
gyman who accompanied Mr. Willis to the sham trial of the Cambridge Fac- 
ulty, and when it is remembered that the Rev. H. F. Hanington was no 
Spiritualist, and not even on terms of personal intimacy with Mr. Willis, his 
testimony becomes the more important. 

"PROTEST OF REV. INIR. HARRINGTON. 

" To the Reverend Factdty of the Divinity School of Harvard College: 

" Gentlemen, — As counsel of Mr. F. L. H. Willis, and in his behalf, I respectfully 
submit the following in reference to the inquiry before you on Friday evening last. 

"I earnestly protest against the use of the 'inquiry' as a basis of judgment upon Mr. 
Willis in any manner and to any extent whatever, for the following reasons : 

" First, It was vitiated throughout by a course of procedure on the part of the accuser and 
his counsel, eminently partial and usjust. Instead of confining themselves to their proof 
of the allegations they had made, they shifted the burden upon Mr. Willis's shoulders to 
substantiate his own innocence. They sharply and perseveringly cross-questioned him, as 
though he were a witness instead of the accused party, and evidently endeavored to entrap 
LLai in his speech. They made many virtual and some positive charges against his hon- 



l82 HISTORY OF MODERN 

esty of procedLire, in connections as to which they had offered no shadow of proof. They 
brought forward suppositions of possible trickery equally disconnected from any proofs, and 
boldly assiTmed these possibilities to be conclusive of fraud. In fine, they took for granted, 
from beginning to end, the very point in question, to the utter overthrow of the whole inquiry 
as a fair and reliable ground for judgment. I most pointedly and emphatically exonerate the 
Faculty from the slightest intentional bias or partiality. But I submit that the position of j\lr. 
Willis was one demanding the most serious consideration ; that his character, hitherto unim- 
peached, should have proved hisshieldagainst unsupported imputations; and that the bearing 
of the investigation on his prospects and his peace, should have secured a restriction of the line of 
inquiry, and arguments to the points expressly at issue, as defined by the existence of posi- 
tive testimony. It may be suggested that it was in the power of Mr. Willis to object to 
the course of procedure at any moment, and that, as he did not avail himself of his oppor- 
tunity to do so, he cannot now, with propriety, review the proceedings. To this I reply, 
that under the informal circumstances attending the inquiry — taking also into view the 
strong bias of the accuser and his counsel — it would have exposed Mr. Willis to severe 
misapprehension if he had endeavored to narrow down the investigation by insisting on 
his legal rights. It was emphatically the part of the Faculty to have protected him, had 
they appreciated the singular one-sidedness of the whole procedure. 

"In the second place, I protest against the use of the inquiry of Friday evening as a basis 
of judgment upon Mr. Willis, because the sole testimony offered on that occasion was that 
of the accuser, and I impeach that testimony as unworthy of confidence in the premises, on 
the following grounds : 

" First, It maybe proved that Professor Eustis has long been noted for an intense and im- 
placable prejudice against the whole subject of Spiritualism, so called ; that he has often 
denounced its alleged phenomena to be deceptions, and its mediums to be impostors, and 
therefore was utterly precluded from that candor and impartiality of mind which would 
enable him to investigate, without fatal bias, the modus operandi of Mr. Willis on tire 
occasions when the deceptions he charges upon him are alleged to have been practiced. 

" Second, It may be proved that in the interval between the time of filing his accusations 
against Mr. Willis with the Faculty, and the period appointed for a hearing thereupon, 
Professor Eustis occupied the season of one of his regular lectures before the Scientific 
School with the subject-matter of the said accusation ; that he exultingly declared his pre- 
conceived opinions to have been triumphantly vindicated, and that he openly and passion- 
ately branded Mr. Willis, by name, as a deceiver and a cheat. 

"And I insist that a person who could thus violate the proprieties of his position, as the 
preferrer of charges yet unproved and uninvestigated, and use the opportunities and influ- 
ence of his office to pre-occupy public opinion and forestall your decision, has evinced an 
animosity against the person of Mr. Willis, sufficient to fatally color whatever evidence he 
might have to offer you. 

"At the best, it would be only the assertion of a single person, against which, until it 
should be corroborated by other evidence, the explanation of Mr. Willis constitutes a 
complete legal offset. And in view of this extreme bias of feelmg it is entirely unworthy 
to be taken into account. 

" I do therefore solemnly and earnestly protest against the acceptance of Mr. Eustis's 
testimony, unless corroborated, and against the use of the inquiry of Friday evening last 
as the basis of a judgment upon Mr. Willis. AU which is respectfully submitted. 

"(Signed) Henry F. Harrington." 

The tone of some of the most respectable portions of the press may be 
gathered from the following brief extract from the Boston Traveller. The 
article is selected chief!)' on accomit of the prominent position which that 
journal occupies in the periodical literature of Massachusetts. 

"The personal controversy between Professor Eustis and Mr. Willis is of little moment. 
We have formed no opinion of Mr. Willis's guilt or innocence. Our position, so far as he 
is concerned, is merely that the charge against him is not sustained by the evidence. On 
the general question of what is called ' Spiritualism,' we have been led by observation of 
our own, and by the testimony of others, to the belief that the phenomena called spiritual- 
istic do really occur. We believe that tables and other articles have been moved, and 
musical instruments played upon, without the agency of any ordinary physical force. We 
are satisfied that these phenomena have occurred not merely in the dark, but in open day- 
light, under the eyes of accurate and trustworthy observers, who had no pecuniary or other 
interest in their production. They have occurred not once or twice, nor twenty times, but 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. \2>2, 

in hundreds of thousands of instances, stretching through a series of years, and in the pres- 
ence, not of professed and mercenary mediums, but in the bosom of respectable households 
in all parts of the country. They are attested by hundreds of thousands of witnesses, in- 
cluding many persons of the highest character and intelligence, some of whom are themselves 
'mediums,' and cannot therefore be the mere dupes of skilful jugglery. In numerous well- 
authenticated instances the phenomena have occurred under such circumstances that decep- 
tion or delusion was utterly impossible. 

"No satisfactory or conclusive explanation of these phenomena has ever been given. 
The various theories which have been propounded of 'odic force,' 'new powers m nature,' 
and the like, are mere conjectures, none of which have borne examination. Our neighbors 
of the Courier, and some of the gentlemen of the University at Cambridge, solve the 
problem by attributing the manifestations to trickery and juggling. We are certain that 
this position is entirely untenable, and that to millions of people in this country, it will only 
render those who hold it objects of contempt and derision. It has been to us, and still is, 
a cause of regret that gentlemen, in whose reputation for knowledge and sagacity the com- 
munity has so deep an interest, should have compromised themselves by rashly, without due 
investigation, taking a position from which they must assuredly, at no distant period, igno- 
miniously retreat." 

In the circles of the theological literati, no independent clergjTuan has 
taken a higher rank than the Rev. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. As a 
scholar, writer, and orator, this gentleman has long maintained the respect 
and adrahation of the best intellects in New England. It is with pecuHar 
pleasiire, then, that we find that the insensate bigotry of the Harvard profes- 
sors at last attracted the attention of Mr. Higginson and induced him to 
investigate the subject, and finally to come out of the inquiry in the spirit of 
the annexed communication, the last which we can select from hundreds of 
similar statements, to the genuine character of Mr. Willis's mediumship. The 
extact is taken from one of the Hartford papers, and is as follows : — 

"PHENOMENA IN THE PRESENCE OF MR. WILLIS. 

•* The case of Mr. Willis, the ' suspended' divinity student of Har\-ard College, is, as we 
anticipated, attracting much attention in various cjuarters. We learn from the Worcester 
Spy that the Rev. T. W. Higginson, an independent clergjinan of that city, referred to it 
in his pulpit a Sunday or two since, in connection with a lecture on Spiritualism, and com- 
mented, in appropriate terms, on the hasty inferences of Professor Eustis, and the unjust 
action of the Faculty in the case. We shall probably be able next week to lay before our 
readers the particulars of this action, when they may look for something for which it would 
be difficult to find a precedent among the doings of sane men. Rev. Mr. Higginson has 
also published in the Spy, the following affidavit of his o-wn observations in the presence of 
Mr. Willis: 

" 'A STATEMENT OF FACTS. 

" ' To WHOM IT JIAY CONCERN, — The public attention has recently been attracted by the 
alleged powers, as a 'medium,' of Mr. F. L. H. Willis, of Cambridge, and by the singular 
proceedings connected with his 'suspension' from the Divinity School of Harvard Univer- 
sity. In justice to Mr. \Villi3, and to an extraordinary class of yet unexplained scientific 
facts, I wish to state some phenomena, observed by me during two evenings spent with 
him at a private residence in this city. There were from nine to twelve present, all, ex- 
cept Mr. Willis, being citizens of this place, including one of our most experienced physi- 
cians. Dr. Heywood of Worcester, INIassachusetts. We sat around a long dining-table. 
The room was not brilliantly but sufficiently lighted, so that every movement of every per- 
son could be distmctly watched; and I, at least, watched them very closely. 
" ' I shall omit the details of the phenomena, and give only the general heads : 
"'First, The musical instruments which had been previously placed by the company 
beneath the table — a guitar, a small drum, an accordion, and two bells — were moved 
about from place to place, lifted and knocked against the under side of the table, and re- 
peatedly and loudly played upon. Two were several tim.es played in unison, at opposite 
ends of the table and entirely beyond the reach of the medium. During this proceeding, 
the whole table was several times raised, and one slab of it — being an extension table ^ 
was lifted altogether from its support, and vibrated in the air without contact of hands. 



1 84 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" ' Second, The accordion was raised into Mr. Willis's lap, and being held by him, with 
one hand, between his knees, was played very skilfully, and executed a variety of tunes 
selected by us, and evem in answer to the mental requests of some of the company. Excel- 
lent imitations of the oboe, violoncello, and double-bass were also given. It is well known 
that the accordion requires, in playing, the use of two hands. 

'"Third, Upon our extinguishing the lamp, for the sake of experiment, faint lights 
appeared upon the table near Mr. Willis, two or three at a time, moving about like glow- 
worms, which they resembled. Other lights flickered in the air with a more rapid motion, 
like fire-flies. Upon my obtaining and opening a phial of phosphorus the lights increased 
in intensity, gradually diminishing, when I re-corked it, to their original amount. Everybody 
in the room perceived them distinctly. 

"'Fonrth, The room being still dark, the accordion M'as held on the table by Mr. 
Willis, and as it played in the manner before described, faint lights flickered around the 
keys of the instrument. During the darkness, all the phenomena were more intense, but 
it seemed very disagreeable to the neiwes of Mr. Willis, and he begged to have the lamps 
restored. 

"'Fifth, The room being again lighted, I proceeded to try some closer experiments. 
Taking the accordion in my owm hand, between my knees, and guarding with my feet 
against the possibility of contact, I found, to my surprise, that the other end was seized by 
an invisible force, and the different keys audibly handled, producing, at last, musical sounds, 
but quite imperfectly. Before long, however, it was pulled away from me with very great 
force, and dropped on the floor. Others afterwards took the instrument, but i<t was played 
in no other hands. I may add that I simply held it by the end with one hand, and that I 
have no knowledge of the instrument ; also, that the hands of all the company were upon 
the table, and that I was beyond the reach of Mr. Willis's person. 

" 'Sixth, Looking under the table, while the guitar was playing, I saw with perfect dis- 
tinctness the instrument lying on its back, untouched by any hand, but with faint flicker- 
ings of light playing over the strings. I could also see the feet of the persons nearest it, 
and that they were not in ccntact with it, while Mr. Willis was out of reach. No other 
person looked under the table, I believe, nor did I mention these observations till the phe- 
nomena had ceased, for I did not wish, at the time, to share my investigations with any 
one. 

'"Seventh, The guitar was moved slowly along by some force, to me inscrutable, and 
lifted bs'iween my knees, the neck resting on my left thigh. At the suggestion of some of 
the company, I began to sing, first placing myself in such a position as to guard the instru- 
ment from possibility of contact. Every song I sang was accompanied accurately and 
gracefully on the guitar, with a constantly-increasing facility of adaptation. The best ac- 
companiment of all was finely played to a peculiar and rather difficult Portuguese song, 
probably not known to a dozen persons in America besides myself. I cannot myself play 
the guitar, but I have heard it played a good deal, and I know that the accompaniment was 
an exti-aordinary thing, apart from the mystery of its origin. I know that I was beyond 
the reach of any part of Mr. Willis's person, and that it was physically impossible for any 
one to touch the instrument without my detecting it. 

" ' Eighth, During all these various phenomena, I felt repeatedly a delicate grasp upon my 
feet, precisely resembling that of a hand with distinct fingers. Upon my slipping off my 
shoe, it was still more distinct, and was in all cases accompanied by a very peculiar electrical 
sensation, as when two persons complete the circuit of an electro-magnetic battery. Keep- 
ing my own counsel, I heard precisely the same phenomena simultaneously described by 
persons at the other end of the table. Afterwards, placing my hand beneath the table, I 
felt the same contact still more distinctly upon that. All the rest of the company held 
their hands upon the table, and I was beyond the reach of Mr. Willis. 

"'I might make these statements still more wonderful by going more into detail, but 
have probably gone so far already beyond the credulity of my readers that I had better 
stop. If any refuse to believe these facts on my testimony, I can only say that I should 
have found it hard to believe them on theirs. Like them, I prefer to verify novel facts by 
my own observation. I can only say for m3'self, further, that I have been all my life a 
student of the natural sciences, and have earned by this time some confidence in the care- 
fulness of my own observations and the accuracy of my own senses. 

" ' The question of the ' spiritual ' origin is not now raised ; it is a simple question of fraud 
or genuineness. If I have not satisfactory evidence of the genuineness of these phenomena 
which I have just described, then there is no such thing as evidence, and all the fabric of 
natural science may be a mass of imposture. And wlien I find, on examination, that fncts 
similar to these have been obsei'ved by hundreds of intelligent persons, in various places, for 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 185 

several years back, I am disposed humbly to remember the maxim attributed to Arago, * He 
is a rash man who, outside of pure mathematics, pronounces the word 'impossible.' ' 

"'Thomas Wentworth Higginson.' 
"'Worcester, ss., April \^, 1857. 

" ' Subscribed and sworn to before me, 

" 'Henry Chapin, Justice of the Peace.' " 



CHAPTER XIX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND THE CAMBRIDGE INVEST* 

GATION. 

" If any old book reached a fiftieth edition. 
He could fill forty pages with safe erudition, 
He could gauge the old books by the old set of rules, 
And his verj' old nothings pleased very old fools. 
But give him a new book fresh out of the heart. 
And you put him at sea without compass or chart." 

J. R. Lowell. 

The Consecration of '"^ Crafts" — Dr. Gardner and the Harvard Professors 
— The Mediums and the Boston Press — Another View of the Subject. 

When the annals of science can produce recorded proofs that new discov- 
eries generally result from the associative action of schools, colleges, or ly- 
ceums ; or when they can show that the incipient efforts of genius in the 
line of discovery have been fostered and sustained by such organizations, we 
may find a fair excuse for the abject and unreasoning submission with which 
the great mass of mankind bow down before the dicta of scientific bodies, 
and assume that the office of a "professor" confers the ability and title to 
pronounce authoritative judgment, from which there can be no appeal. It 
was doubtless in this conventional spirit of deference to constituted authority 
that the Spiritualists of America thought it necessary to memorialize Con- 
gress for aid and indorsement from a " scientific commission." 

It would seem that the insolence with which Congress had sneered away 
the Spiritualists' memorial, the humiliating trash put forth by the Buffalo 
doctors. President Mahan, Dr. Rogers, and others of the " self-wise and pru- 
dent," was not j'^et enough to convince the Spirituahsts of Boston that facts 
spoke louder than the dicta of priests, and truth needed no indorsement 
from alma mater. 

The editor of the Boston Courier offered a contemptuous challenge of 
five hundred dollars for the production of certain phenomena under certain 
conditions, and required that three distinguished scientists of Harvard Col- 
lege should be the umpires on the occasion. The bait of five hundred dollars 
did not weigh a feather in the scale, but the possibihty of inducing the savans 
of Plarvard, to condescend so far as to investigate the despised phenomena 
of Spiritualism ! This indeed was a triumph ; and the prospect of indorse- 
ment in such a direction, seemed of more moment than the sanction and 
authority of the supreme spiritual power from which the manifestations 
originated; and thus came about the production of that remarkable farce, 
by courtesy entitled the " Cambridge Investigation." 

From the best attainable authorities we learn that the challenge above 



Ni 



1 86 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

named having appeared in the cokimns of the Boston Courier, Dr. Gardner, 
as the enterprising conductor of the pubhc meetings in Boston, felt bound 
to accept it, and agreed to procure the services of some of the best media 
for spiritual manifestations, to hold seances in the presence of the gentlemen 
selected by the Boston Courier editor, who on his part agreed to pay the sum 
of five hundred dollars, provided that the stipulated phenomena were pro- 
duced in their presence. 

The committee of umpires thus chosen consisted of Professors Pierce, 
Agassiz, and Horsford, of Plarvard University, and Dr. N. B. Gould, of the 
Albany Observatory, also a resident of Cambridge. The Boston Courier was 
represented by one of its editors, the Hon. George Lunt, whilst Dr. Gardner 
was sustained by several friends of the cause of Spiritualism, amongst Avhom 
were Mr. Alvin Adams, of the express company which bears his name, the 
Rev. Allen Putnam, and Major Raines, a scientific gentleman of Newburg, 
New York. At the invitation of Dr. Gardner, one of the editors of the 
Boston Traveller was also present, together with Dr. Bell, late superintendent 
of the McLean Lunatic Asylum. 

Previous to the opening of the meetings. Dr. Gardner had emphatically 
expressed his determination to waive the award of the five hundred dollars, 
and only require of the Boston Cotirier to defray expenses, provided the mani- 
festations could be produced as claimed by the Spiritualists. The mediums 
engaged for the occasion were Mrs. Brown — Leah Fox — her sister, Catherine 
Fox; Mr. J. V. Mansfield, a writing medium of great celebrity; Mrs. Kend- 
rick, a test, rapping, and writing medium ; Mr. George Redman, and the 
Davenport Brothers. The seances were held at the Albion buildings, Tremont 
street, and occupied a portion of three successive days, namely June 25, 26, 
and 27, 1857. Now, the result of these meetings, whether Ave take the ac- 
knowledgments of the Spiritualists, or the pro tern, report of the professors 
themselves, was a decided failure. 

The manifestations were few, imperfect, and unsatisfactory, and no legiti- 
mate claim to the award could have been sustained, even had it been set up, 
a proceeding which from the first was disavowed by Dr. Gardner, who con- 
ducted the affair with the most disinterested liberality, and together with his 
friends, incurred heavy expenses in procuring the services of the mediums 
from distant places. 

That the best interests of truth may be subserved in a reconsideration of 
this almost forgotten affair, we shall present such statements as can be fully 
verified on both sides of the question. The first document which belongs to 
our subject is the report of the investigating committee, who published the 
following statement in the Boston papers : 

" The committee award that, Dr. Gardner, havhig failed to produce before them an agent 
or medium who * communicated a word imparted to tlie spirits in an adjoining room,' ' who 
read a word in English written inside a book or folded sheet of paper,' who answered any 
question 'which the superior intelligences must be able to answer,' who tilted a piano with- 
out touching it, or caused a chair to move a foot ; ' and having failed to exhibit to the com- 
mittee any phenomenon which, under the widest latitude of interpretation, could be re- 
garded as equivalent to either of these proposed tests, or any phenomenon which required 
for its production, or in any manner indicated a force which could technically be denomi- 
nated ' spiritual,' or which was hitherto unknown to science, or a phenomenon of which 
the cause was not palpable to the committee, is, therefore, not entitled to claim from the 
Boston Courier the proposed premium of five hundred dollars." 

Had the committee confined themselves to the above paragraph, the 
course of strict justice would have been satisfied with the forfeiture of an 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 187 

award that was not contended for; and though the cause of exact science 
might require certain explanations for the obvious faikires implied above, the 
professors, eitlier from ignorance of the laws of mental and magnetic science, or 
predetermination not to comply with such conditions as were requisite, might 
have found an excuse for the rendition of their unfavorable verdict in the 
bare facts submitted to them ; but what follows not only proves that they 
wilfully exceeded their functions as scientific investigators, but that they went 
into the inquiry animated by a spirit of aversion and predetermined hostility, 
false to the cause of truth, and ruinous to the production of jAenomena 
which depend as much on the mental condition and magnetic influence of the 
inquirers as on that of the media themselves. When it is remembered that 
a strong positive will can create or destroy psychological results, and that me- 
diums, the most sensitive of all psychological subjects, are constantly bereft of 
their powers by the presence of one or more determinately hostile persons, 
who can wonder at the failure of the delicate and occult phenomena of spirit 
communion in the presence of four men who entered upon their investigation 
with the sentiments to which they appended their names, as follows, in the re- 
port published in the Boston Courier : 

" It is the opinion of the committee, derived from observation, that any connection with 
spiritualistic circles, so called, corrupts the morals and degrades the intellect. They there- 
foi2 deem it their solemn duty to warn the community against this contammating influence, 
which surely tends to lessen the truth of man and the purity of woman. 

"The committee will publish a I'eport of their proceedings, together with the results of 
additional investigations and other evidence, independent of the special case submitted to 
them, but bearing upon the subject of this stupendous delusion. 

"Benjamin Pierce, Chairman, 
L. S. Agassiz, 
B. A. Gould, Jr., 

E. N. HORSFORD. 

"Cambridge, ^une 2g, 1857." 

Now, besides the effect which the merest t}TO in psychology might look for 
in the iDresence of investigators holding the above opinions, it is a fact well 
attested that some of the members of the committee transgressed the rules 
commonly observed at spirit circles, and notwithstanding their pledge, given 
in writing to Dr. Gardner and the Rev. Allen Putnam, that they would com- 
ply with such conditions as might be deemed requisite for the production of 
the manifestations, they violated them in several essential particulars ; for 
instance, Mr. Lunt and Professor Agassiz refused at any time to join the 
circle, though repeatedly requested to do so, and although it was intimated 
to them through the raps that the spirits could not operate whilst they were 
standing or restlessly moving about the room. Others of the " investigators " 
pursuing the same course, the Spiritualists frequently remonstrated with them, 
to which Professor Agassiz replied that he had "sworn never to sit in a cir- 
cle," but it seems he had not been sworn to desist from annoying a circle, 
which he did in many ways, by moving about the table, overlooking the sit- 
ters, communicating in suspicious whispers with his colleagues, and in rough 
and at times insulting speeches with the Spiritualists. We shall here insert a 
few extracts from the spiritualistic reports, which will at least tend to show 
that their evidence was not garbled nor the obvious failure of their media mis- 
represented. 

The following quotations are from a printed letter of the Rev. Allen Put- 
nam, who was present at all the seances, and in answer to a request from Dr. 
Gardner, briefly noted down his observations from memory : 



HISTOR Y OF MODERN 



' PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS. 



"We [Dr. Gardner and the Rev. Allen Putnam] met the four gentlemen at Cambridge, 
and soon found that they had been named as commissioners, without their own knowledge 
or consent ; and that the first question with them v/as, whether the services and conditions 
asked for were such that they could serve. Consequently, a free and prolonged conversa- 
tion followed. 

" Passing from that point, we came to a consideration of those 'natural laws within which 
we believe spirits are confined in producing the manifestations.' Here Dr. G. turned to 
myself, and asked for statements from me. My position, taken then, as at other times was, 
that there is some subtle natui'al fluid which is essential to the spirits as an instrument, 
whenever they work here or near the earth's surface ; that this fluid can be very easily dis- 
turbed and dissipated by the embodied persons present, and this so effectually as to prevent 
all spirit operations ; that lack of quiet and harmonious feelings among the persons present, 
that intense mental action, the magnetic rays from the human eye, or rays of light, etc., 
might frustrate its use and prevent its manifestations. Therefore, that it was in the 
power of the gentlemen there present to make the trial a failure by ejecting certain forces 
from their own minds and eyes. "We stated that it would be best that all should sit in a 
circle; that all should conform, in the order of sitting, to the wishes of the mediums ; that 
all should avoid intense mental action. Professor Agassiz at once objected to being in the 
circle under any circumstances, and I think the gentlemen all felt that, when acting as judges, 
such would not be a desirable position 

"Another point, which required many statements for its elucidation with these gentle- 
men, as it does with most people who are not familiar with the subject, was the powerless- 
ness of the managers of the arrangements, and also of the media. Even ijien of science 
were not free from the influence of the notions that the working powers in spirit manifesta- 
tion are, on the one hand, subject to man's control, and on the other, that they are almost 
omniscient and omnipotent, or at least that they can, at any time, overpower man. Pro- 
fessor Agassiz stated that, in all their scientific experiments, if a thing could be done once, 
it could be repeated twenty times; and, therefore, that they might require the same here. 
He said this, apparently forgetting that we claimed that the real actor is an individual 
intelligence, acting according to his or her own will and powers, and not in compliance with 
our dictation. 

" Professor Pierce inquired if we could not ask the spirits whether they would come and 
manifest themselves at the trial. 'Yes,' was the answer, 'we can ask.' 'And,' said he, 
'can you not get an answer?' 'Probably,' we said, 'their reply will be, 'we will try." 
' Why can't they tell certainly?' he continued. We said, 'Can Mr. Gould now promise 
certamly that he will examine some particular star in the heavens to-morrow evening at 
nine o'clock, while as yet he knows not whether there will be clouds or fogs? ' 'No,' said 
Mr. Pierce, ' he can only promise to point the telescope.' ' Very good,' was our answer ; 
' the spirits can only promise to try, and can, at the time of trial, perform only what the 

conditions permit.' ' It was proposed to Dr. Gardner that he should be 

permitted to have his own way in everything, even to the selection of the room, time, and 
the determination of all the accessory circumstances.' Though this, in their own language, 
goes somewhat further than Avhat my recollection would lead me to use in mdicating my 
own understanding as to how far the committee promised compliance with every wish the 
doctor might express as to their o\^ar positions and deportment in the room, yet I had no 
doubt that they then indicated a purpose to give the general subject of Spiritualism free 
scope and fair play, and not a purpose to act simply as judges, as to whether certain speci- 
fied acts could be performed in their presence, they remaining inattentive to proper condi- 
tions just so far as they chose In the course of the conversation. Dr. 

Gardner repeated, in the presence of the company, what he had said to me in reference to 
the five hundred dollars, and expressed an entire willingness to arrange for the trial, and at 
its close, report the amount of expenses, and leave it to the option of the Courier whether 
to pay the bills or not, and to thus dispose of the pecuniary point at once and finally. This 
avowal seemed to give much pleasure to Professor Agassiz in particular, who conveyed the 
idea that it placed the whole matter before them in a much pleasanter aspect, and would 
give to them more freedom in the investigation. No dissent from his view was then 

expressed From that time — June 13 — up to the day of the trial, my 

belief was unfaltering that the committee would submit the control of every influencing 
circumstance to Dr. Gardner; that they would be co-operators with him, having ignored 
the money question ; and I was repeatedly heard to express a belief that the learned gentle- 
men v/ould enter heartily into a courteous and fair investigation, and that palpable and 
good manifestations would be obtained. Such was my expectation; and it was deduced, 
and was fauiy deducible, from what the members of the committee had themselves said and 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. i8g 

done, and listened to witliout dissent, in my presence at least We met 

at the Albion. Mrs. Brown and her sister, Miss C. Fox, were present as mediums. A 
conversation was started which was carried on mostly, but not entirely, by Mr. Lunt, the 
representative of the dourier, and Major Raines, of Newburg, N. Y., a gi^aduate of West 
Point, once assistant professor there, and who, in connection with Judge Edmonds and 

others, made a long-continued investigation of spiritual powers scientifically 

After a time, the mediums and a few others being at the table, raps were heard, mostly on 
the floor, or rather upon a tlu'ee or four-inch platform covering the stuffed or deadened floor, 
while a few gentle ones were felt and heard as if made on the table. Afterward, when 
Mrs. Brown stood by a large wooden box, and put her first finger and then a common pencO 
against the box, the raps were heard there as on the box and near her hand. Again, when 
she stood upon a covered stool, the sounds seemed to be made beneath her on the platform, 
Agam, when the two mediums were both standing on the stuffed seat of a sofa, the persons 
near them remarked that they heard .sounds as from the wood of the sofa, and also from the 
wall against v.'hich the sofa stood. 

"Near the close of their sitting. Professor Agassiz stated that the production of such 
sounds could be referred to known laws, and said, ' Before the investigation is over we 
will explain to you how they may be produced. ' 

" When about to separate, Major Raines expressed a ■«ash that all would stop and compare 
notes, and come to an agreement as to what had actually occurred or been exhibited. A 
few sentences as to the propriety or importance of this course were exchanged between him 
and Professor Pierce, when the professor said, with a very ironical and discourteous tone and 
look, ' We thank you, sir, for your advice,' and bowing, hastily left the room. This occurred 
while a portion of the company were about leaving the room, while nearly all were standing 
and ready to go — while promiscuous conversation was going on — and it is not probable 
that many heard or saw what is here described. I was standing by the side of IMajor Raines, 
and saw and heard the whole most distinctly. Mortified and ashamed at the tones and looks 
of this representative of almaviater znA of science, when addressed to a gentleman and a 
man of science, I turned silently away, and was not surprised when, shortly after, Major Raines 
said to me, ' There seems no occasion for me to remam here because of any Imowledge or 
skill which my experience in such investigations may have given me ; there is no attempt — no 
purpose to have an investigation of the general subject. I had better return home.' And 
soon he did go, as then proposed. 

At the next gathering I asked, privately, and learned from both Professor Pierce and Mr. 
Gould that they considered the money question as stiU before them, and that they were 
but judges and not investigators. From that time my relations to them and to that partic- 
ular trial became relatively unpleasant. I had little to do or say and nothing to hope for, 
because of tlie antagonism in the room. 

"At their next sitting Mr. Redman was the medium. Raps and tipping of the table did 
not come as they usually do with him ; yet he asked those at the table to write the names of 
deceased friends and roU up the slips. Professor Pierce commenced writing in a book. 
Professor Agassiz, in the meanwhile, was standing near his back, frequently changing his own 
attitude and position, and looking very intently upon Redman, although he said to Professor 
Pierce, 'tlirow that one out,' meaning the slip just ^^Titten upon. There was the appearance 
of much mental disturbance in Professor A., as sho^vn by his attitudes, his changes of position, 
his wild gaze, and his tones when he spoke. No raps came ; nothing claiming to be spirit- 
ual was done by or through Mr. Redman in the public room. At some time during this sit- 
tmg, Dr. Gardner drew attention to the points of disturbance through strong mental action 
and intent use of the eyes. Mr. Lunt was understood to say that he had been using 
both mind and eyes intently and with much effect; but I was on the opposite side of 
the room from him when he spoke, and may not have taken m the exact import of his 
words. 

" Similar want of success attended the other mediums, at all the subsequent sittings, up to 
the meeting of the Davenports on the last evening. These boys, or young men, were 
intrusted almost entirely to the management of the committee, and those of us who were 
but spectators are not so informed as to make it proper to state in advance of the committee 
. what was attempted or what was the success. We do know tJiat at the close. Professor 
Agassiz held up a small, short piece of thread, which he said had been ^ broken,^ and that was 
the test. Having uttered these words in a very rough tone and emphatic manner, he, in a 
similar tone said, 'Good night, gentlemen,' and hastily left us. 

" Professor Pierce then said to Dr. Gardner, 'I suppose you are through with us.' The 
doctor replied ; ' No ; you have promised to show us how the raps were made.' 'Not as a 
committee,' said Professor Pierce; 'Professor Agassiz made that promise as an individual ; ' 
and thus the affair closed — we as much disappomted at the failure of Agassiz to keep his 
word and imveil the mystery of rapping, as at any one failure durmg the sittmgs. . . • 



190 HISTORY OF MODERN 

"The investigation, in fact, was atrial of the correctness of the statements m^-de at tha 
preliminary meeting, viz : ' that it was in the power of the gentlemen there present to make 
the trial a faikn-e by ejecting certain forces from their own mind and eyes !' In this they 
were successful. 

"Two of the gentlemen — Professor Agassiz and Mr. Limt — omitted throughout all the ses- 
sions to comply with invitations to sit in the circle around the table, and there was not in any 
instance or at any point any opportunity for Dr. Gardner to exercise 'the determination of 
all the accessory circumstances.' The former gentleman, it seems, was permitted to exercise 
his own choice as to being in the circle, but not so the latter. Dr. Gardner's friends have 
been disappointed, and the chief disappointment was at the manners, actions, and mental and 

emotional states of two of the committee and a representative of the Courier 

"Allen Putnam. 

"RoxBURY, ytdy 10, 1857." 

The correspondent of the Tribune, who was present at all the sessions, 
thus speaks of them : 

" The Cambridge ' investigation ' into Spiritualism proved to be, properly speaking, iw 
investigation at all. I was present at all the sessions, and took notes of all that occurred. 
So far as I can see, the matter rests precisely whei-e it did before. Nothing was proved or 
disproved. The committee, I believe, think differently, and will report in a day or two. 
Until their report is published, I feel bound to abstain from publishing the details of the 
sessions. They are entitled to be heard first." 

That hearing, however, has never even been claimed by the professors. 

Despite the respect due to the public, whom they had undertaken to 
enlighten on the nature of the " stupendous delusion," weeks, months, and 
finally years, have elapsed without the production of the promised report, and 
as far as the Cambridge professors are concerned, " the truth of man and 
the purity of woman" remains in the same contaminated condition in Avhich 
they found it. In answer to the numerous appeals for that mysterious report, 
put forth by the spiritualistic and secular press alike, the only satisfaction 
that has ever been rendered will be found in the following paragraph, taken 
from the Boston Courier. It appeared several weeks after the "investiga- 
tion," and is as follows : 

" We have already stated that the report of the committee will be no Jmrried affair. 
The gentlemen of that committee will take their own time to work out the details of the 
subject. It will be, we venture to say, a calm, dispassionate, unanswerable exposure of this 
monstrous and wicked fraud; and, although both cheats and dupes may continue to carp at 
their proceedings, as they have done hitherto, we also venture to predict that all the reason- 
able minds in our community will rest satisfied with their conclusions." 

Fearing that it may take something more than a lifetime to "work out" 
any details by which the Harvard professors can show Spiritualism to be a 
"monstrous and wicked fraud," we wait no longer for the promised report. 

The world has long since pronounced judgment upon the whole subject, 
and out of the millions of living believers in Spiritualism who throng the 
cities of civilization, we doubt if there are ten who know or care what the 
Harvard professors think or say about it, and, perhaps, not one who has 
believed or disbelieved in the facts, on the authority of Messrs. Pierce, 
Agassiz, Horsford, and Gould. 

The whole transaction, although it resulted in failure to enlighten the scien- 
tists of Harvard [if, indeed, there be anything in heaven above, or earth 
beneath on which so learned a body could receive enlightenment], is still 
calculated to read the candid and patient investigator some valuable lessons, 
not the least important of which is a view of the paralyzing effects which 
antagonistic psychology and magnetism exert upon every phase of psychical 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 91 

phenomena, whether the influence invoked be of a mundane or supra-mun- 
dane character, and next, that we, as mortals subject to the control of 
beings who are avowedl}'' only in the first rudimental stages of the spiritual 
telegraphy, must patiently submit to failure until we shall have fully learned 
and faithfully practiced whatever conditions may be requisite for success 
whilst the last and most instructive lesson this episode conveys is th(! 
reproof and discomfiture which we incur when we attempt to place sublime 
truth at the mercy of those whose testimony is only valuable because they 
occupy places of distinction in the community. Great scientific or religious 
truths have never been intrusted by their Divine originator to the dubious 
action of conservative or sectarian associations, and we do but seek to 
pervert the Divine plan when we too-eagerly court the praise or fear the 
blame of those who have neither been called nor chosen to do the work of 
reform. 

Let time and Supreme Wisdom deal with men. Our part is to accept of 
the talent confided to us and trust " the tmth against the world." 

After the last session of the Cambridge investigation, Dr. Gardner, the 
indefatigable and undaunted champion of "the spirits," proceeded still further 
in the direction of public investigation, by tendering a general invitation to 
the members of the Boston press to attend seances, for manifestations 
through the same mediums as had been engaged with the professors. 

The gentlemen who responded to this invitation were : Messrs. Carter, 
Robinson, and Brown, of the Boston Traveller ; Stockwell, oi '&iQ. Journal ; 
Bulger, of the Post ; Clapp and Shillaber, of the Gazette ; Marsh, of the 
Bee ; Tracy, of the Herald ; Hill, of the Ledger, and the editors of the 
Banner of Light and New England Spiritualist. There were also present 
at a portion of the sittings, Hon. L. V. Bell, A. Putman, Esq., Alvin Adams, 
Esq., and others. The Boston Traveller has the following account of the 
first session : 



" The first session of the committee was held on the forenoon of Wednesday, July i. 
Mr. J, A. Redman, of New York, was present as medium. The company were advised to 
commence by making a thorough inspection of all the appurtenances of the room to satisfy 
themselves that there was no machinery or hidden apparatus by which the phenomena could 
be produced. The conditions imposed, simple in their character, only requiring the persons 
to join hands for a time, and afterwards occasionally to rest their hands in concert upon the 
table, were cheerfully complied with by all. The result was, that the circle was readily har- 
monized, and the sounds so well-known by Spiritualists as the 'rappmgs,' were promptly 
produced. 

"At the request of the medium, each member of the circle wrote the name of one or 
more of his spirit friends on a small piece of paper, carefully concealed, not only from the 
medium, but from all others. The papers were then folded, rolled into small pellets — each 
one performing the operation for himself — and thrown promiscuously together upon the 
table. Any one present, except the medium, was permitted to mix and confuse them as 
much as he chose. It was now an acknowledged impossibility for any one to distinguish 
the paper on which he had written. Hereupon the medium indicated, with the point of his 
pencil, one after another of the pellets, inquiring of the unseen intelligences if the spirit was 
present whose name was written iipon it. After perhaps a dozen had been passed aside with- 
out response, three distinct raps were heard on the table, showing that he had touched the 
right one. Each person then made the inquiry in turn, ' Is it a friend' of mine ?' To one 
of the gentlemen an affirmative was returned. ' Will that spirit v.-rite out his name through 
my hand?' asked the medium., 'Yes.' Mr. Redman's hand was seized by some invisible 
power, and rapidly wrote the name Edward. The pellet was opened- and Edward found 
written upon it. A double test will be noticed here ; both the name and the person who 
wrote it were designated before any one in the room could have known either. The soirit 
was then asked various questions, as to his age, occupation upon earth, number of brothers 
and sisters, disease of which he died, etc., all of which were answered correctly. 



192 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" Other pellets were designated in a similar manner, the names wTitten through the 
medium's hand, and test questions answered, with unexceptional success. To enter into 
particulars in reference to these would be but a repetition of the preceding experiments." 

A great variety of tests of a similar character, together with very powerful 
and even astounding physical phenomena, were witnessed in the course of 
these seances, and most of the members of the press who attended them 
candidly published, in the several journals they represented, fair statements 
of what they had witnessed and the tests they received. 

As these details vary but little from the abundant records already familiar 
to the reader, we shall only transcribe two more specimen articles, the first 
of which is copied from the Boston Post. 

"THE SPIRITUAL QUESTION IN BOSTON. —FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS. 

"Notwithstanding the condemnatoi-y report of the * Spiritual Investigating Committee' 
appointed by the publishers of the Courier, the substance of which report bemg that all of 
the committee's four tests had failed of being satisfactorily met, Dr. Gardner invited, yesterday 
afternoon and evening, to room No. 12 Albion House, representatives from the different 
newspapers in Boston, for the purpose of exhibiting to them experiments in spiritual mani- 
festations, and placing their practical results before the public. The press was largely rep- 
resented, and the strictest attention was given to the proceedings. 

" Without vohmteering any opinion on the subject of Spiritualism, we will give a brief 
statement of what transpired, as it appeared to our understanding : 

"In the afternoon at three o'clock, the mediums, Mrs. Brown and Miss Kate Fox 
[sisters], were present. At the suggestion of Dr. Gardner, the visitors examined the tables 
and fixtures in the room. The company, with the mediums, then sat around a large table, 
and in a short time a very brisk rapping in a variety of tones assailed the ear. A series of 
questioning of certain spirits now commenced, through the instrumentality of the ' raps,' and 
under the direction of the lady mediums. The answers were in almost every instance 
straight for wai'd and satisfactory, and from the system adopted of transferring the question- 
ing from one to another, a suspicion of collusion between the mediums would be difficult to 
arrive at by even the most sceptical. 

" This sitting occupied about an hour and a quarter. 

" In the evening, the manifestations were of a different character. Two boys were 
placed in a box with seats at each end, and the lights put out. It was then desired that 
' John ' [the spirit] should tie them together, ropes having been placed in the box for that 
purpose. But 'John' wouldn't do it, and the experiment failed. The boys were then tied 
together in the most secure manner, with many knots exceedingly intricate, and the lights 
again put out. The request this time was that the spirit should untie them, and while the 
investigators held those having charge of the exhibition, the boys were separated amid a 
great pulling and rubbing noise, like rattling of ropes, and much to the astonishment of all 
present, who, with the gi'eatest care, were unable to detect any trickery. This transpired 
within fifteen minutes. 

"The next feat was to tie the boys up, which failed before, and it was accomplished in 
six minutes. They were examined, and the lights were once more extinguished. In accor- 
dance with a request, the spirit [and when we say 'John' did this or that, it is only for 
convenience, based on general supposition] closed the doors of the box and bolted them. 
A tambourine had been placed on the floor of the box, and upon its top, outside, of course, 
was a violin. The latter article then fell through, and the two instruments came in contact. 
In a second they were playing ' Pop goes tire Weasel.' The doors were then unbolted and 
flew open, and almost instantly the room was lighted. The company rushed towards the 
scene of action, and, wonderful to relate, found the boys as intricately tied as at first. 

" The lights were again put out, and the boys untied in two minutes, the shutting and 
bolting operation being again performed. This was the best experiment of the evening, 
and the company departed perfectly bewildered at what they had seen. 

" We submit the whole matter for what it is worth 

"Another meeting will be held this evenmg." — Boston Post. 

In one of the Boston evening journals, we find a continuation of the seances 
given, which we shall render in the editor's own words. 



AMERICAN' SPIRITUALISBT. / 193 

"SUBSEQUENT SESSIONS WITH THE DAVENPORTS. 

" On the following evening, further experiments were tried through the mediumship of 
the Davenports, and were continued at three subsequent sessions. 

" The results were not dissimilar to those elicited the last evening. On one of these 
occasions, marline was used in place of clothes-line for securing the mediums, as being 
smaller and more pliable, and therefore could be tied more closely and firmly. At another 
time the knots, after completion, were sealed with wax, in order to be sure that the boys 
did not untie themselves by any means, to perform their feats. The wax was undisturbed; 
yet a jargon was kept up on the musical instruments which seemed as though several hands 
were at liberty. Perhaps the most thorough tying was performed on one occasion by Cap- 
tain Ayling. 

"After the process previously described had been completed for securing the boys, he 
added a small rope about the wrists of one of them, which he v\Tought into a complicated 
sailor's knot, of some six or eight inches in length. This knot alone, he said, would require 
any man fifteen minutes to untie, in the light. But in less time than that not only this 
knot but all the others were untied, and the rope was formed into a solid ball, called by 
sailors a ' swab.' A marline spike is always used for making 'swabs' on ship-board; but 
nothing of the kind could be found in the box, nor about the person of the boys. 

"It is proper to state that on several occasions the precaution was taken to pass a cord 
round the circle, tln^ough a button-hole of every person's coat, to prevent collusion with the 
mediums." 

"SESSION WITH MR. MANSFIELD. 

" On Monday afternoon, 6th instant, Mr. J. W. Mansfield, and INIiss Kendrick, of 
Chelsea, were the mediums present. As previously agreed upon, each gentleman had pre- 
pared a letter, which was to be submitted to Mr. Mansfield, to be answered tlirough his 
mediumship. 

" These were re-inclosed in uniform envelopes, so that no one should know his own. It 
\vas hoped that one or more of these would be answered in the presence of the company, 
but they were not. 

"Mr. Mansfield sitting dowTi, pencil in hand, was impelled to A\Tite a communication 
which he passed to Dr. Gardner. It proved to be an answer to a letter left at jNIr. Mans- 
field's ofllce that morning, by a gentleman then stoppmg at the Fountain House, Dr. A. C. 
Stiles, of Bridgeport, Connecticut. 

" [It may not be out of place here to state that Dr. Stiles called on the A\Titer of this the 
next morning and brought with him the letter, which he had taken from Mr. IMansfield's 
room, and the answer written as above mentioned. Dr. S., let it be understood, was a 
total stranger to Mr. Mansfield. We were permitted to open the letter, which we found 
inclosed in two separate envelopes, pasted together, and the inside one pasted to the letter, 
so that it was utterly impossible to get at the w-riting without destroying the envelopes and 
considerably mutilating the letter. 

" Six questions were askecl which were appropriately answered in this communication. We 
are permitted to copy one of them, with the answer received, the remainder being of a 
strictly private nature. 

"^. Am I in the way of duty? A. You ask if you are doing your duty. What 
says the inward monitor ? Let that decide ! 

" Though this answer contained less of a test than either of the others, yet it is quite suffi- 
cient to show it came from an intelligence that perceived the question.] 

"As Mr. Mansfield received no further impression to write, it was agreed to seal the 
letters with M'ax and permit him to take them to the quiet of his o%vn room, and answer 
them if possible. 

" The next day one of the letters was sent, seal unbroken, Avith an answer, superscribed 
to Mr. Brown and signed Stephen C. Phillips. Mr. B. 's letter had been rightly selected 
and appropriately answered, the name signed by the medium being the one to whom it was 
addressed. 

" Subsequently Mr. Carter had his letter returned, the seal undisturbed, with 'Blank' 
written on the outside. He had inclosed a blank piece of paper in his envelope. The 
letter written by Mr. HiU w-as also returned with an answer containing appropriate replies 
to eight questions, and signed with a facsimile of the aiTtograph of the person to whom 
they were addressed. 

" This experiment, like the rest at these meetings, was performed under stringent test 
conditions and witnessed by persons as cool, collected, and far more painstaking than the 
Hai^vard professors seemed to have been. Dr. Gardner and the mediums manifested the 

13 



194 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

utmost willingness to afford the widest scope for investigation, and it was evident that the 
cordial feelings of harmony and good will that prevailed throughout these seances measur- 
ably affected the occult power by which the marvels were wrought. In fact, it seemed ap- 
parent to all present that something of human psychology and magnetism was operating 
upon the mediums, although this could by no means explain the phenomena, much less 
the intelligence which [especially in Mr. Mansfield's case] accompanied it. Mean- 
time we retired, not convinced of the spiritual hypothesis, it is true, but still less im- 
pressed with the full force of the aggregated wisdom of the Cambridge committee of investi 
gation." 

We should be equally uncandid and unjust were we to fail in remarking 
upon the noble, courteous, and honorable exception which the chief i:)art of 
the associated press of Boston afford, in this instance, to the general action 
of that important body in almost every other city and State in connection 
with this movement. Whilst fidelity to truth, and the strict demands of 
historic justice, have compelled us to stain our pages with records equally 
astonishing to common-sense and degrading to free thought and intellectual 
manhood, as the general action of the press in relation to Spiritualism, we 
feel almost compensated for the painful task, by being able to present a few 
examples from time to time of writers, who dare, in despite of all popular 
prejudice, or whole colleges of the Dimciad School, to take the position 
which justly belongs to them : namely, as leaders rather than abject fol- 
lowers of public opinion; as teachers rather than pupils of an uninstructed 
multitude ; and as the exponents of new truths rather than the conservators 
of sacred or scientific fictions. 



CHAPTER XX. 



SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND — CONTINUED. 

"'Tis coming now, the glorious time 

Foretold by seers and sung in story, 
For which, when thinking was a crime, 

Souls leaped to heaven from scaffolds gory ; 
They passed — yet see the work they wrought. 

And the high hopes of centuries blossom. 
Whilst the live lightning of their thought 
'And daring deeds doth pulse earth's bosom ;' 
• "Tis coming, yes, 'tis coming — the people's advent's coming.' " 

Gerald Massey. 

Birds Brought by Spirits — Writing on the Arm — "Cui Bono?" — Dr. J. 
R. Newton — Testimony of Professor Mapes — Pearls from Many Lands 
— Music of the Spheres — Church Thunder — T. L. Harris, the Spiritu- 
alist. 

Those who have noticed how invariably the mere fact of notoriety has 
redounded to the advancement of the cause of Spiritualism, will understand 
that the results of the Cambridge investigation bore evident relation to the 
publicity procured for the subject, but none to its implied failure. True it is 
that some few persons were heard to declare that " Spiritualism had suffered 
death at the hands of the Harvard professors," but it soon became manifest 
that it was in a more flourishing condition than ever, and many of "ts bitterest 
opponents, provoked into investigation by its unquenchable vitality, became 



AMERICAN' SPIRITUALISM. 19=; 

devoted adherents to the cause. In order to meet and counteract the in 
iurious phiUipic of the Harvard professors, floods of evidence were poure(5 
)aa upon the pubhc which might else have remained in obscurity, and it is to 
-ome of the pubhcations of this kind that the present chapter will be de- 
voted. 

A circle had been formed in Boston consisting of thirteen persons, whose 
harmonious relations with each other seemed to be instrumental in procuring 
many phases of spirit-power equally interesting and wonderful. 

The circle had been named by the presiding spirits, " the Olive Branch 
of Peace," and as an appropriate token of their invisible friends' interest in 
their meetings, it was promised that they should be presented with a white 
dove, which would be placed in the hands of the one who was to take care 
of it for the rest. Minute directions were given as to the arrangement and 
conduct of the circle in order to secure the necessary conditions ; also it was 
directed that the circle room should be closed and hermetically sealed for 
twenty-four hours previous to the time appointed for the presentation, and 
that when opened it should be in presence of all the members, who should 
enter simultaneously. These conditions having been complied with, and the 
company being seated in silent expectation for about an hour, one of the 
mediums in the trance state said, "The dove is now coming," and immedi- 
ately afterwards, "It is now in Mrs. Vinton's hands." On looking at the 
party indicated, the entire circle perceived, nestling in her hands, a white dove 
the purest, prettiest, and most gentle creature of the kind they had ever 
seen. 

This mysterious visitant, although docile and intelligent beyond descrip- 
tion, was a veritable inhabitant of this mundane sphere, and during many 
subs'equent months, when the circle was in session, held its place in their 
midst, suffering the caresses Avhich were tenderly lavished upon it, and ruffling 
its snowy plumage as it rested in their hands, with tokens of reciprocal affec- 
tion and familiarity. In a highly-enthusiastic account of this singular pres- 
entation published in the Neiu Era, eleven names from amongst the most 
respectable inhabitants of the city were signed in witness of the whole scene 
as above described, and in the strongest tenns of asseveration for its genuine 
character. This was not the only well-authenticated account in which birds 
were made the appropriate messengers of spiritual remembrance and afiec- 
tion. Mrs. Glover, an aged lady residing at Quincy, Massachusetts, was also 
favored with the presentation of a dove of singular gentleness and beauty. 
The precious gift was conveyed in a somewhat similar manner. The family 
of Airs. Glover were requested to search a certain apartment thoroughly, and 
then, in presence of several invited witnesses, to lock and seal the doors and 
windows for twenty-four hours, at the end of which time the room was opened 
in the presence of the same witnesses, and found tenanted only by the beau- 
tiful bird, which was quietly nestling on the table ; and though it turned its 
bright loving eyes on the party as they entered, it never moved, and unre- 
sistingly suffered itself to be taken up by its new mistress and caressed, with 
all the docility of long acquaintanceship. 

The author has frequently had the privilege of caressing this semi-spiritual 
creature, and received the account of its appearance from those who were 
present on the occasion of its advent amongst them. 

Numerous other instances can be cited in which spirits have manifested 
their power of influencing birds with a degree of readiness and intelligence z s 
unaccountable as it is interesting. 

The somewhat rare phenomena of writing on the ami, produced by spirit?^ 



196 HISTORY OF BIODERN' 

now began to increase and attract unusual attention from its total absence 
of any circumstances which could account for its origin on mundane prin- 
ciples. 

Mr. Colchester and Mr. Charles Foster, of Salem, Massachusetts, have 
presented remarkable evidences of this singular mediumistic endowment. 

Both were favored by the production of all the strongest phases of physi- 
cal force manifestations, and test intelligence through rapping, writing, 
clairvoyance, and other phenomenal methods, was frequently given through 
their organisms ; but when total strangers to these mediums beheld, 
rising up on the surface of the arm, letters of a vivid red hue, resembling a 
thick cord formed in the cuticle, resolving themselves into the names of de- 
ceased friends, or writing intelligent messages, and then as unaccountably 
fading out before their very eyes, and all this without the contact of a single 
human finger, conviction of a spiritual origin for such marvels became irre- 
sistible, and hundreds of new converts were added to the ranks of Spiritual- 
ism by the exhibition of this single phenomenon in the persons of these two 
highly-gifted mediums. 

The readers of the spiritual journals will doubtless remember the accounts 
published of a young woman residing in the family of Mr. Lewis Burtis, of 
Rochester, in whose person the remarkable manifestation of sphit writing on 
the arm was of frequent occurrence. 

The following incident, occurring in the experience of the young person 
above referred to, was communicated to the author by Mr. and Mrs. Burtis 
themselves, and verified upon the testimony of other eye-witnesses. 

A certain celebrated orator and editor of one of the New York State papers 
was dining at Mr. Burtis' s house, and after the meal v/as ended, sat with his 
host and family under the shade of their garden trees, whilst the medium w^as 
at some distance from the party, engaged in domestic avocations. Being an 
uneducated person, she could not read clearly the raised letters which from 
time to time appeared on her arm, and hence she generally applied to one of 
the family for an interpretation of their meaning. On the present occasion 
she proceeded coolly to dry her hands, and advancing to the party, addressed 
Mrs. Burtis aside, asking her to explain the meaning of the figures wdiich had 
just then appeared on her arm, and which, she added in an undertone, she 
thought had some reference " to the nigger there," motioning to the visitor, 
whose nobility of soul and intellectual powers were veiled beneath the sable 
skin of Africa ; in fact, the party referred to, though then holding the position 
of equality with his host and hostess to which his mental acquirements enti- 
tled him, was by birth a negro, and had been a slave. 

On examining the young woman's arm, Mrs. Burtis discovered that the red 
lines corruscated upon it had formed into a distinct and beautifully repre- 
sented picture of a kneeling man, with a woolly head and African cast of fea- 
tures, a chain round his waist terminating in two balls, which were ingeniously 
fitted into the veins at the bend of the arm, whilst above the whole vras writ- 
ten in fine characters the words, "a poor old slave." 

Perhaps a stranger scene could hardly be imagined than that quiet garden 
arbor presented. The immobile aspect of the medium, gazing indifferently at 
the mystery wrought in her own organization ; the dark-hued stranger regarding 
wdth obviously intense emotion this touching memento of the beloved and 
martyred dead ; the tearful faces of the rest of the sympathetic group, and the 
phantom picture itself, v/ith its deeply significant meaning and an origin in the 
silent land, where it was vainly supposed the wrong and ruin of many a 
wretched captive was lost in the mysteries ol eternity ! And as they gazed. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 1 97 

the work of the unknown artist faded from their eyes, dissohang as it had 
come, leaving behind neither sign nor token — nothing but conjecture to prove 
that they had been " entertaining an angel unawares;" yet something more 
thanconjecture that the records of every deed, good and bad, though faded out 
of earthly sight and memory, are treasured up in the archives of eternit)'- 
forever ! 

Amongst the clamoring voices that were carrying the tidings of the spiritual 
outpouring over the land, one cry now frequently began to make itself promi- 
nent above all others, and this was, "What is the use of it?" It seemed as if 
every day's experience diminished more and more the chances of successfully 
stemming the flow of the spiritualistic tide, or rendering the charge of delusion 
and imposture in the least tenable ; but this new cry, "AMiat is the use of it ? " 
uttered, as common sense will allow, in total disregard of the beneficent nature 
of the manifestations or its elevating and cheering effect on human character 
and feeling, called forth a fresh set of evidences, which, though numerous and 
abundant beyond the abiUty of the historian to transcribe, deserve to be re- 
presented in a few brief paragraphs, which will illustrate generally the answer 
which the manifestations themselves supply to the captious propounders of 
the above-noted query. 

Our first example is to the following effect : 

]\Irs. Kellog, the well-known spirit medium of New York, was one day vis- 
ited by a gentleman holding a distinguished position as a jurist, and not un- 
known in the realm of letters. Though a stranger to Mrs. Kellog, she gave 
hull a touching and graphic communication from his spirit mother, who ten- 
derly deplored his one lamentable vice of intemperance, and declared she had 
influenced him to visit Mrs. Kellog with a view of efiecting a cure in his ap- 
petite for drink. 

The visitor did not attempt to deny the allegation contained in this com- 
munication, but quietly awaited the result. 

Mrs. Kellog then proceeded to make magnetic passes over him, which 
produced singularly unpleasant sensations in the digestive organs, but which 
she assured him [still under influence] would ultimate in his permanent cure. 
Although for obvious reasons Ave are not privileged to give the name of this 
gentleman, the following letter, which he addressed to Mrs. Kellog shortly af- 
ter the occurrence narrated above, was, by his own request, published in the 
spiritual papers, that the writer might, thus far, at least, acquit himself of the 
debt of gratitude which he acknowledged to the "blessed influence of Spirit- 
ualism." 

'M/r//7, 1S57. 

"Dear Madam, — It is now thirteen days since I met you in New York, and presum- 
ing you would lil-ce to laiow something of the result of that experiment, I have concluded to 
write to you. 

"Immediately after leaving your room I felt a disagreeable sensation, almost amounting, 
to pain, about the pit of the stomach. This continued for some forty-eight hours wdth but 
little appetite, when it passed off and such a good appetite supervened as I had not before 
enjoyed for years ; and this continues to the present day, accompanied with an excellent 
power of digestion. . ' 

" The day I saw you was, as you vn}X recollect, the last of my stay in New York, and ac- 
cording to custom, I was called upon to take at least twenty or thirty 'parting glasses' with 
friends. But after my intei-view with you, it was no more possible for me to take a glass 
of any strong drink than to consume so much aqua fortis. From that hour to this, in fact, 
I have not realized the slightest desire or inclination to drink any ardent spirits, nor have I 
felt the want of any such stimulus. It is not that I have any palpable feeling of disgusl 
towards drink, but it does not seem to me as a thing in the least necessary, or even possible; 
I have not cared for it ; do not need, desire, or think about it, except to remember, with the 



198 HISTORY OF MODERN 

most intense gratitude, my re]ief from the crushing thaldom of my life, for indeed the de- 
mon of intemperance had so tightly wound Iiis folds around me that I scarcely hoped to 
avoid a doom which I deeply dreaded. But, thank God, I am free ! and my fervent prayer 
is to remain so ; meantime, for this blessed result, I need not assure you how uns]3eal<ably 
grateful I am to you ; how like a ministering angel you apjDear, when I reflect upon the 
awful precipice over which I was rusliing, not blindly, but with such despairing speed. May 
God bless you, as, in the fullness of my soul, I do. May he keep you, is the earnest prayer 
of your true friend." 

And this is but one of numerous instances wherein kind spirit friends, either 
through clairvoyant prescriptions or magnetic passes, have succeeded in en- 
tirely destroying the the taste for intoxicating hquors and tobacco. In the 
case of the venerable Seth Hinshaw, one of the most distinguished and 
beloved philanthropists in Indiana, the spirits, after having frequently re- 
monstrated with him on the immoderate use of tobacco, in answer to 
his half-jesting solicitation that they would remove his appetite for the weed, 
promised to do so within nine days, and that without any visible means, or 
the use of drugs, magnetism, or will-power consciously exerted. They 
kept their word, for at the end of mne days and during the reminder of 
nis beneficent life, a period of some twelve years, the mere presence of to- 
bacco in the room, produced an unendurable and nauseating effect on Mr. 
Hinshaw. 

In other chapters will be found single instances, selected from hundreds of 
others, in which gamblers have been deterred, and even compelled to with- 
draw from the gambling table ; drunkards cured, libertines restrained, injustice 
rebuked, lost property found, murders detected, ships guided, travellers di- 
rected, and almost every conceivable act of kindness and charity performed 
which life's pilgrims could require from tender spirit guardians. These acts 
are neither peculiarly directed towards the believers in Spiritualism, nor are 
they invariably performed for all who seek and need them. The whole his- 
tory of Spiritualism makes the fact apparent that the power to act upon 
human destiny on the part of spirits is limited, and subject to many hin- 
drances inexplicable to us in our mundane sphere. 

The sum of our knowledge in this direction simply proves that the pur- 
poses of omniscient wisdom seem measurably to use the agency of spiritual 
beings as instruments, but how far those instruments can shape or modify 
human affairs, is a mooted point on which experience alone can enable each 
individual to decide for himself It is certain that much is done of an emi- 
nently beneficent character by kind ministering angels. 

The above question of the material uses of Spiritualism receives daily and 
abundant responses through the beneficent deeds of love and blessing 
enacted by the "healing medium" alone. The work effected, for example, by 
Dr. J. R. Newton, of Rhode Island, would form a complete gospel of good 
use, and evidence of the divine power that operates through mediumistic 
sources. Dr. J. R. Newton is a gentleman who has received a regular rou- 
tine education as a medical practitioner ; but becoming interested in psycho- 
logical and magnetic experiments, and finding he possessed wonderful 
power in these directions, he ultimately abandoned all other modes of prac- 
tice in favor of the apostolic mode of the laying on of hands. His success in 
these efforts has been almost unparalleled in the annals of supra-mundane his- 
tory. The blind, halt, maimed, and miserably afflicted in every shape and 
form, have entered his presence bowed to the earth beneath their weight of 
suffering, and left it "leaping and dancing" as of old, physically resurrected 
with new life. Hundreds of aiTidavits to the truth of these "miraculous" 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. I99 

cures are on record. Thousands of victims who once languished in hopeless 
misery or were sinking into untimely graves, rise up and call this man 
'blessed' ; and if the columns of the local journals had not been systemati- 
cally closed against this kind of testimony, the experience of this one divine 
instrument alone would have crowded them with answers to the senile ques- 
tion of ' What is the use of Spiritualism ? ' But when such an example is 
pressed home upon the notice of determined prejudice, the objection is re- 
torted, that gifts so wholly exceptional do not necessarily belong to the cate- 
gory of ' spiritualistic ' endowments. 

But we respond, Dr. Newton's gifts are only exceptional in their extraor- 
dinary benevolence and singular abundance. Thousands of mediums less 
distinguished, and of examples less striking than he affords, swell the ranks 
of Spiritualism ; and the reader who will take the trouble to peruse the full 
details of Dr. Newton's remarkable career, as we shall present it in our se- 
cond volume's biographical sketches, will find ample reason to justify our 
claim of a spiritual origin and impulsion for the outworking of his truly divine 
and Christ-like mission. 

In the first article addressed by Phoenix— Professor Mapes — to the Spir- 
itual Telegraph, he sums up the uses which he has evolved from Spirituahsni 
in the following brief but pithy sentences : 

" The manifestations which are pertinent to the ends required are so conclusive in their 
character as to establish in my mind certain cardinal points. These are : 

"First, That there is a future state of existence, which is but a continuation of our 
present state of being, devoid of such portions of our organism as are now denominated 
material 

"Second, That the great aim of nature, as shown through a great variety of spiritual 
existences, is progression, extending beyond the limits of this mundane sphere. 

"Third, That spirits can and do communicate with mortals, and in all cases evince a 
desire to elevate and advance those they commune with. 

"Fourth, That spirits have, in a vast number of well-attested instances, proved their 
will and ability to ward off dangers, cure sickness, prevent crimes, reform criminals, restore 
lost property, and commmiicate many useful, scientific, and some highly-occult and novel 
ideas to mankind." 

The professor then goes on to enumerate, at great length, the curious 
phases of phenomena which he has witnessed, justly claiming that the ex- 
traordinary powers which invisible beings herein display, and the transcen- 
dental ability with which they, by means totally unknown to us, manipulate 
material objects, would of itself form the basis of new revealments in science 
calculated to revolutionize the entire realm of philosophical knowledge. The 
same broadly-suggestive operations, he claims, are manifested in relation to 
mental science, the understanding of which on the part of spirits, puts all 
our confused attempts at theorizing to the blush. He concludes his treatise 
on the character of spirit communion in the following unanswerable sum- 
mary : 

"Thousands of erring persotis have been reformed by Spiritualism, and many a chilled 
heart, that had almost ceased to beat in unison with its fellows, has been warmed into 
human sympathy by communications from loved ones, long since passed from the form. 

" Nothing has been so eflective in reclaiming the vicious and rendering the family circle 
a perfect school-house for Christian feeling. It has been the means of educating many a 
wayward and inconstant heart into prayerful feelmg, gentleness towards the creature and 
reverend aspnation to the Creator." 

Continuing this subject, we shall make a few selections from the over- 
whelming mass of testimony which the records of Spiritualism furmsh con- 



200 HISTOR Y OF MODERN 

cerning its peculiarly utilitarian and benevolent character, a few specimen 
instances of which, are simply illustrative of the thousands that are of daily 
occurrence in the experience of Spiritualists. 

The following incident is taken from the Niagara Democrat^ Niagara 
village ; the party referred to is well known as an excellent medium, but, foi 
personal reasons, objects to the publication of her name. 

" A young woman who resides on Lock street, in this village, who is a reputed ' spirit 
medium,' in going on her way home passed up Cliurch street, intending to reach Lock by the 
way of Caledonia street. When she had crossed the latter, she was arrested by some irresisti- 
ble impulse, or, as she describes it, 'felt some one taking hold of her arm.' Under tliis in- 
visible and irresistible guidance she quitted her companion, turned on her steps again, and 
was hurried along until she arrived back on Church street at the railroad crossing. Here 
she was compelled to hasten along the track to the deep cut west of the transit, when she was 
almost pushed forward towards something lying on the track, which, on reaching, she found to 
be a little child lying asleep across one of the rails. The whistle of the approaching cars had 
ah'eady sounded, the train was in sight, and ' the medium' had scarce time to seize the child 
and jump with it in her arms to the ditch at the side, ere the train of cars dashed past her ! 
The young woman's statement is corroborated by that of the companion whom she so sud- 
denly left, and several witnesses, two of whom actually saw the rescue of the sleeping child 
before they understood the circumstances that prompted it. Our readers may rely on the 
accuracy of the entire statement." 

In a report of the Boston Convention of 1854, a speech called forth by 
surrounding circumstances from Dr. Hayden, editor of the Boston Star- 
Spangled Banner, bears rather significantly upon the character of Spiritual- 
ism and the habits of Sphitualists, as the following extracts will prove. 

Dr. Hayden said : 

" Brother Hudson had spoken of hearing profanity from the mouths of some young men 
on the grounds. He, [Dr. H.] regretted to say, the same blasphemous sounds had floated on 
the pure air to his own ears, and he wished to say, for the information of any strangers that 
might be present, that any persons that used profane language in that place were not, could 
not, be SpirituaHsts. They were outsiders, attracted hither by curiosity, but did not belong 
to the meeting. He must here add he had yet to know the first Spiritualist who made use 
of profanity, or was not opposed to slavery, the rum traffic, capital punishment, and every 

other physical or mental form of human degradation Spiritualists have 

no cloak under which to cover a multitude of sins. 

" Mr. Hudson said he hoped he would not be misunderstood, as he did not for one mo- 
ment suppose the young men he alluded to were Spiritualists. The moment he heard them 
swear, he knew they might be Christians but could not be Spiritualists." 

It would be superfluous to multiply examples of the above character or 
repeat such testimony as that offered by Professor Mapes on the cid bono of 
Spiritualism. 

Purposing to devote a chapter of our second volume to this well-worn sub- 
ject oicuibo7io, we shall now invite the reader to follow us through a brief 
summary of the phenomena which was especially rife about this time in the 
Eastern States. 

Amongst other demonstrations of the power with which spirits have favored 
mortals, that of producing music either through an entranced human organ- 
ism or automatically from invisible performers themselves, has been one of the 
most interesting and abundant. 
N\ We have already noticed several instances of the production of spirit-music 

through the mediumship of the Misses Fox, Mrs. Tamlin, Frederick Willis, 
Mr. D. D. Home, the Davenport Brothers, Miss Brooks, of Buffalo, etc.; but 
all that v/e have yet recorded falls short of the marvels wrought through the 
mediumship of two sisters in the State of Maine, named Annie and Jennie 



AMERICAN' SPIRITUALISM. 20l 

Lord. These young ladies, both very slight, fragile persons, suffering under 
the most pitiable conditions of ill-health, and in their normal state unable to 
pla}' upon any instrument, became mediums for various phases of " the power," 
requiring the most astounding phj'sical force in execution, in addition to Avhich, 
spirits, in their presence and in darkened rooms, would play upon a double 
bass violoncello, guitar, drums, accordion, tambourine, bells, and various small 
instruments, with the most astonishing skill and power. Sometimes the 
instruments would be pla3^ed on singly, at others all together, and not unfre- 
quently the strange concert would conclude by placing the young medium, 
seated in her invalid chair, silently and in a single instant in the centre of the 
table, piling up all the instruments around her, and then calling for a light to 
exhibit their ponderous feats of strength and noiseless agility to the eyes of 
the astonished circle. The sisters rarely sat together, and though it v/ould be 
impossible to conceive of any persons more incapable of giving off physical 
poioer than these two fragile and afflicted girls, yet their manifestations with 
one alone acting as medium, have surpassed, in feats of vast strength and 
musical achievements, any that are recorded in the annals of Spiritualism. 

With the Sisters Lord, Messrs. Charles Foster Colchester, D. D. Home, H. 
Gordon, Y. L. H. Willis, and at least an hundred of the most highly gifted 
public test and physical mediums operating throughout the Eastern States, 
with Dr. Newton, Mrs. Mettler, and a host of admirabl3^-endowed clairvoyants 
and healers, and while private mediums and circles were to be numbered in 
each State by the thousand. New England bid fair to outrival New York, Penn- 
sylvania, or even the Western States in the force and multitude of its phe- 
nomenal demonstrations. Besides a large corps of variously-gifted mediums 
at the disposal of the inquring public, Boston was favored by the presence of 
Mr. J. V. Mansfield, the renowned writing medium, through whom thousands 
of letters were transmitted from beloved and lamented friends in the '' spirit- 
country" to their mourning relatives on earth. 

The office of this great spiritual post-master was constantly crowded \A'^\ 
eager investigators, and his modus operandi fomis not one of the least remark- 
able demonstrations of spirit-power. Sealed letters, carefully marked and 
secured, so that it would be impossible to open them -nithout detection, either 
brought in the hand or sent by investigators, were correctly and often most 
graphically answered and returned without a single i^roven case of one ever 
having been opened. Sometimes the letters of sceptical inquirers were inclosed 
in plates of metal or curiously interlaced v/ith silk to resist the supposed action 
of " electricity," the wonderful agent to which so many of the spiritual mar- 
vels were attributed. Sometimes they were inclosed in varieties of envelopes, 
pasted, sealed, and privately marked wAih every imaginable test for the detec- 
tion of any attempt to open the inclosed letter. No matter what were the 
precautions used — excepting in such rare cases as no spuit control being pres- 
ent, when the letter was simply returned — the most conclusive evidences 
were given in the answers that they had been dictated by spirits, who were 
fully cognizant of the hidden secrets of the package. 

Not only v/ere these replies appropriate and characteristic, but, as if to repel 
the idea that Mr. JNIansfield himself dictated these answe"S, messages and 
details were given, not touched on in the querist's letter, whilst names were 
frequently introduced that were not mentioned or asked for, and not unfre- 
quently the answers were written in Geniian, Spanish, Greek, Arabic, San- 
scrit, and even Chinese, whilst all who knew the medium testified to their 
belief that lie was entirely unacquainted with any language but his own. 

Reserving further notice of this remarkable medium for a more extended 



202 HISTOR Y OF MODERN 

sketch, we call attention to two highly interesting phases of spirit-poiver, 
which were manifested in Hartford, Connecticut. The first relates to Mrs. 
Mettler, the celebrated healing medium. The single testimony to her benefi- 
cent power which we can insert in this notice of New England Spiritualism 
is copied from the Springfield Republican, where it is with justice re- 
corded, as — 

"SIGNIFICANT TESTIMONY. 

'* This is to certify that I have been, through the instrumentality of Mrs. Mettler, of 
Hartford, relieved from blindness which had previously baffled medical science. 

" My age is now fifty-three years ; my health has always been poor since about my ninth 
year. During much of this time I had suffered almost everything but death. At my ninth 
year I received an injury from the fall of a log, since which I have been gi'owing *vorse, 
until about eight years ago, when I became blind in my right eye by the formation of a cat- 
aract over the sight. For some time, in fact, I could scarcely discern anything witli either 
eye, until I entirely lost my sight in both. I have been attended by physicians of reputed 
skill and ability; surgical operations have been made, and everything done for me that 
could be thought of, without affording me the least relief. 

" Thus I remained some three years witliout the hope of ever again beholding a ray of 
light, when I was advised to go to Mrs. Mettler, at Hartford, and get an examination. I 
did so, and there for the first time in my life found a person who seemed perfectly to im- 
derstand my case, tracing out causes which I had long since forgotten. She informed me 
that the sight of one eye was destroyed, and the other covered with a cataract. She gave 
me a prescription and I commenced her treatment. At this time my neighbors began to 
chide me for the course I had taken. But I continued on with the treatment, resolved to 
get my sight if possible, until I was so persecuted that I was finally obliged to move away 
to Manchester, and all because I had gone to Mrs. Mettler in the hope of again beholding 
this beautiful world, a blessing that has been finally vouchsafed to me. 

" Some six months ago I began to see a little, and am now able to see to read and do 
the finest sewing. 

" When first I went to Mrs. Mettler my health was so poor that I could scarcely get 
from one chair to another ; now I not only see, but am able to do my work. Just imagiije 
a person so situated as I was, to experience such a relief ! It is out of my power to ex- 
press my deep gratitude to Mrs. Mettler, or to the friend who advised me to consult her. 
Of my persecutors I can only say, may the light of heaven flow down upon them until the 
scales of superstition drop from their eyes. 

" If by these few lines I may induce some poor sufferer to visit Mrs. Mettler, and obtain 
from her the blessed relief that I have experienced, then shall I have responded to the high- 
est aspirations of my own soul. 

"Mrs. Dotia Spoore. 
"Bristol, Conn., January i8, 1854." 

Our next extract refers to a daughter of the excellent lady referred to 
above, Miss Catherine Mettler, who, like her mother, was a highly gifted 
medium, as the following notice from the pen of Professor Britain, written for 
the Spiritual Telegraph, will prove. 

"Not long since we gave an account of a remarkable musical performance, in which a 
grand opera, improvised under spirit influence, was rendered with wonderful effect by a 
young lady medium from the vicinity of Boston. New England is rich in these musical 
prodigies, for since that tiine we have witnessed several still more astonisliing musical im- 
provisations from Miss Catherine A. Mettler, whose sudden development and rapid pro- 
gress as a musical medium has occasioned the deepest surprise. The youthful improvisatrice 
is the eldest daughter of Dr. G. M. and Semantha Mettler, and is now about sixteen years 
of age. 

"Those who have witnessed Mrs. Mettler's remarkable powers as a clairvoyant and 
healing medium will readily infer that Catherine inherited a natural title to her inspiration. 
Previous to her development as a medium, Catherine had taken a few lessons on the piano, 
and could execute a few rudimentary lessons with tolerable correctness, but had r ever 
evinced any remarkable taste for tlie art, or given promise of ultimate proficiency. One 
day, whilst laboring to make out the air of a simple song. Miss Mettler's arms were appar. 



AMERICAN" SPIRITUALISM. 203 

ently seized by an unknown power, whicli at once compelled her to commence the most 
astonishing improvisation, evidencing an extraordinary mastery over the instrument and a 
thorough knowledge of the science of harmony. 

" The medium's hands for some time mechanically obeyed the irresistible impulse of this 
unseen performer without any volition or mental impression of her own. At length the 
wonderful sounds issuing from the instrument attracted the attention of other members of 
the family. INIrs. Mettler, who has an intuitively fine taste for music, whilst engaged in 
another part of the house, heard and recognized the masterly touch of an unknov>"n per- 
former, and inquired who was in the parlor. She presumed that some very skilful pianist 
had called on her daughter without her knowledge. To ascertain this fact, she entered the 
apartment, where, to her amazement, she found no one but Catherine. The young girl was 
sitting at the instrument, apparently fixed and spell-bound ; her hands automatically per- 
forming those wondi^ous symphonies, but her mind locked in the deep unconsciousness of a 
profound trance. Smce this time [some three months ago], Catherine has been daily 
influenced by spirits whom all skilled musicians recognize by their graphic and peculiar 
style to be those whom they claim ; namely, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, and others, who 
each perform with marked and unmistakable indviduality. Sometimes the compositions 
are wholly original and improvised upon given subjects. Sometimes they are recognized 
chef d'ceuvres of celebrated masters, of whom the medium has scarcely e\er even heard. 
These marvellous perfonnances are executed equally weU in the dark or the light, and 
usually occupy several hours of each daj'. On one occasion, when the spirits had performed 
a medley of some twenty popular airs, Mrs. Myers, a lady present, mentally desired that 
some martial music should be given, when the performer, by a skilful modulation, changed 
the strain she was then executing into a noble march for Liberty, accompanied with some 
fine variations and closing w ith a sublime hymn, improvised, as it was claimed, by the spirit 
of Beethoven. 

"One night when the writer, together with several musical dilettanti, were present, it 
was claimed that the spirit of Mozart would perform at the request of the company ; where- 
upon we desired that the medium should be mfluenced to give his celebrated requiem. 
A.fter a few minutes devoted to fine modulation, 'Mozart's Requiem' was rendered, as the 
writer and others acquainted with that composition can testifiy, in the most correct, impres- 
sive, and masterly manner. Subsequently ' A Storm at Sea ' was played, in which the 
battle of the elements was illustrated with thrilling effect. Tlie power that holds the 
winds seemed to have relaxed liis gi'asp, and they shouted aloud for freedom. The angiy 
billows seemed to rise high in the darkened air, and anon, sinking into the fathomless abyss 
of ocean, to wail like imprisoned spirits. We could hear the booming of the thunder, the 
plashii\g of the rain, the rending of the sails, falling of the masts, and signal guns of an 
invisible ship. The prayers and shrieks of the despairing mariners, then the sobbmg of 
the exhausted storm, sinking into a low wail, a hush ! then the transition of the arisen 
spirits into the land of light and joy was celebrated by triumphant songs splendidly impro- 
vised, in a style of the most exalted and artistic excellence, the whole closing with an 
exquisite and pathetic rendering of the touching baUad, 'Home, Sweet Home.' " 

It would be impossible to notice the various developments of individual 
medium powers that began rapidly to multiply in all the New England States ; 
suffice it to say that they v/ere so marked and numerous that Spiritualism 
assumed a vast and formidable importance throughout this whole section of 
country. 

In Willimantlc, Norwich, Springfield, Chicopee, and other considerable 
towns and villages regular Sunday meetings were held, at which audiences 
of from five hundred to a thousand persons constantly attended. 

In Worcester, Quincy, Plymouth, and other old colonial towns, the leading 
minds, both in point of intellect and position, openly avowed their belief in 
the cause. 

The rich and flourishing cities of Providence, Rliode Island ; Portland and 
Bangor, Maine ; and Hartford, Connecticut, became perfect strongholds of 
the faith. Still the lack of variety that attends mediumistic demonstrations, 
and the limits of our space, oblige us to confine our narrative chiefly to gen- 
eral descriptions of the movement and its progress, hence we must sum up 
the overwhelming force and abundance of New England Spiritualism by a 



204 HISTORY OF MODERN 

few closing extracts from the Telegi-aph papers, furnished b) their most 
trusted and rehable correspondents. 

The first of these, written by a celebrated trance medium, is as follows : 

"PROGRESS OF SPIRITUALISM IN VERMONT. 

"Professor L. B. Britain: Dear Sir, — Five years have scarcely elapsed since 
Modern Spiritualism made its advent in Vermont. At that period, a few daring spirits 
extended the hand of welcome to the stranger, watching with painful anxiety the result. 
During the interval since then, zealous churchmen have made themselves jubUant at one 
time over its persecutions, and indignant at another about its successes. 

"Rowdyism and religion have alternated, until the dividing lines between sinners and 
saints have become obscure, while all the time Spiritualism has reared its temples and 
planted its groves Thus, Spiritualism has advanced whilst the opposi- 
tion has fallen, until in Vermont above seventy churches — built by all varieties of sects — 
have been opened for the use of that Spiritualism which, a few years ago, tliose same sects 
so furiously denounced. The writer has cause to remember when first an effort was made 
to open a meeting-house in Vermont for Spiritualism, as that effort was made to allow liim, 
for the first time, to stand before an audience to be influenced by spirits. The attempt 
failed. A Universalist society held the door fast, even against the wishes of the share- 
holders and paying members The writer admits that he can hardly 

explain the fact why these seventy churches have been opened, unless, indeed, a spiritual 
key has been used to unlock them ; he merely cites the fact and testifies to its truth from 
personal knowledge 

" In conclusion, we pledge our beloved State to sustain Spiritualism, and, day by day, we 
see her sons and daughters arise as its advocates, exponents, and adherents, until %ve believe 
that she shall become a home of the spirit and a temple of justice, a land where every soul 
shall rejoice in the glorious light of immortality and the communion with immortals in joy 

unspeakable 

"Austin E. Simmons. 

" Woodstock, Vermont, 1856." 

"telegraph papers — 1856. 

** Mr. Isaac Hunt, writing from the conservative old tov/n of Augusta, Maine, states 
that Spiritualism is just beginning to force its way into notice in that place, met, of course, 
as usual, with a storm of opposition. There is a young lady in the tovTi, a fine medium, 
through whom the spirits give some curious demonstrations, manifesting amongst other 
things the spirit of an old Revolutionary soldier, who, in his unabated opposition to Iving 
George of England, refuses to rap time to the tune of ' God Save the King,' but beats 
time to the air of 'Yankee Doodle' with amazing force and alacrity. Several highly- 
respectable citizens of the place have recently become developed, as mediums. Among 
them is a young man who is a seer, and who, by the exercise of his gift of inner-sight, has in 
several instances found lost and stolen property, and given most interesting descriptions of 
angelic life and scenery in the spheres. In one instance he stated that preparations were 
being made in the spirit-world for the reception of several persons still in perfect health. 
He gave the names of those predestined ones, but was met with no credence. Within a 
week after this announcement, two of them departed, and we find that a third, from a sud- 
den and fatal accident, is likely to follow." 

"TELEGRAPH PAPERS— 1867. 

"William Lloyd Garrison, who was previously sceptical with regard to Spiritualism, 
has lately been investigating the subject with Mrs. Leah Fish, of this city. The spirits 
of Jesse Hutchinson, Isaac T. Hopper, and many other of his friends, manifested their pres- 
ence in the most satisfactory and convincing manner ; and in closing an article in his o\\'n 
paper, on the variety and character of the demonstrations, Mr. Garrison thus expresses him- 
self: 

"'How can phenomena like these be accounted for except on the hypothesis of spirit 
agency? If we cannot positively say that Isaac T. Hopper, and Jesse Hutchinson were ac- 
tually present on that occasion, we are at least prepared to express our ovra conviction as 
well as that of the witnesses who were in our compan}', that spirits not of this mundane 
sphere must have performed the demonstrations we have thus briefly narrated to our readers.' " 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 20 S 

The following cases have several times been paralleled with sirailar phe- 
nomena, witnessed by scores of persons, of whom the author has frequently 
been one. 

The possibility of rendering the human organism positive to the action of 
both fire and water by spiritual influence has now been so often proved, in 
the presence of strong physical mediums and the most trustworthy witnesses, 
that these instances are not cited for their novelty, but rather in illustration of 
the class of facts to which they belong ; they were published in the Christian 
Spii-itualist, Macon, in i860, in the following extract from correspondence : 

"Mrs. Lovejoy, of Cincinnati, being on a visit to this place, brought with her a baby of 
four months old, who is a remarkable medium. We have been accustomed to sit around 
the cradle wliilst the little one lies asleep, ever since she has been here, and always receive 
satisfactory responses from our spirit friends, either by raps or rockings of the cradle. If 
the baby wakes during our circle she never cries, but seems, by the happy smile over her 
sweet face, and the delight with which she crows along with the raps, to receive some pleas- 
ant influence from the power which is operating. 

"Last evening [April 3], as we were holding a circle round the cradle, I asked the spirits 
why the Cliristians did not give the signs which are promised to the believers in the last 
chapter of St. Mark? When the spirits rapped out, by the alphabet — 'Because the Chris- 
tians of this century were believers with their lips, but too many of their hearts v/ere far 
from God.' They added, 'They would show what belief in the truth of Scripture meant, 
through that baby, to-morrow, and prove that it was something more than lip service.' 

"The next day [this morning], as I returned to dinner, I found my wife and Mrs. Love- 
joy sitting on the verandah outside the house. They rose up and went into the parlor with 
me, also accompanied by Mr. Newman, my overseer, from Mississippi, who was along with 
me. 

" On entering the parlor, we were all four horrified to behold the baby's cradle literally a 
mass of flames ; a spark from the pine fire probably had flown out, and the cradle being 
incautiously left near the open fireplace, had taken fire, and was now wrapped in flames. I 
shall never forget the shrieks of the women, or my own feelings of horror at the sight ; but 
Mr. Newman gallantly rushed towards the blazing mass, and, plunging his hands in, snatched 
the infant from the cradle, and rolled it in its blazing night dress on the matting of the floor, 
until the fire was extinguished. I seized a bucket of water at the door, brought by Sam for 
our horses, and hurled it at the cradle, by which the flames were soon put out ; but the 
strange part of the story is that the little one never cried, nor even whimpered, and that, 
though its night dress was burned to a cinder, not a single scorch can be found on its body, 
nor the least token of injury ; even the bit of hair on its little poll is not singed. 

" Mrs. Lovejoy is now in bed, attended by my wife, in a painful conditioii of hysterical 
emotion ; but the little angel — giiarded sign of true Christianity — is merrily crowing in the 
arms of her nurse, Cherry, on the floor at my feet, as I write. 

" Mobile, .^/W/ 4, 1S60. E. Hoffman." 

"In Macon, Georgia, a colored girl, who was an excellent physical medium, frequently 
exhibited the feat of thrusting her hand amongst the blazing pine logs, and removing it after 
some sixty seconds ^■^^thout the least mjury. She always insisted, however, that she would 
only perform this feat when 'Cousm Joe,' whom she called her guardian spirit, v/as present, 
and bid her do it. 

"At New Orleans, Louisiana, a negro by the name of Tom Jenkms was m'cU known for 
his power of resisting fire, under what he called the ' fluence of Big Ben,' a boatman, formerly, 
on the Mississippi river, and who, since his death by drowning, had come and made what 
Tom called 'magic ' for him. On one occasion Mrs. Emma Hardinge and a party of friends 
paying a visit to Tom, he became entranced, took off his shoes and stockings, rolled up his 
pantaloons to his knees, and entered the pine wood fire, literally standing in it as it blazed 
upon the hearth, long enough to repeat in a solemn and impressive manner the 23d, 24th, 
and 25th verses of the third chapter of Daniel." 

The folloAving incident is one which has obtained wide circulation through 
the press of New England, and relates to a family of high respectability in 
Vermont. The statement is confirmed by many witnesses, but the ofiiciaJ 



2o6 HISTORY OF MODERN 

character of the investigation alhided to in the narrative is better -waiTanty 
than the attestation of private individuals. The relation is copied from the 
Vermont Daily Tribune^ bearing date, 1854. 

"A STRONG CASE. 

" Some few weeks ago the wife of Mr. Henry H. Mitchel, of this city, was controlled by 
a preternatural influence claiming to be 'spiritual,' under which she wrote a communica- 
tion purporting to come from Mr. Mitchel's fatlier, who had died iai 1816. The 'spirit' 
stated that at the time he left this mundane sphere, he was entitled to a quarter section of 
land located in Pike County, Illinois, for military services which he had rendered in the war 
of 1812; and he requested his son to write to Washington, as the patent had never been 
issued from the office there ; that the land was now valuable, and justly belonged to his 
heirs. Having but little confidence in the communication, and no knowledge of his father's 
being entitled to any government land, Mr. Mitchel at first hesitated to write to Washing- 
ton, but was finally persuaded by some Spiritualists to do so for the sake of the test which 
it would afford. 

" He accordingly wrote to the Honorable James Meacham, one of the members in Con- 
gress for Vermont, requesting him to examine the records and ascertain whether there was 
any truth in the representation. 

"A short time afterwards he received from Mr. Meacham his papers and a copy of the 
record, with the official seal of the Honorable John Wilson, Land Commissioner, showing 
that his father was entitled to a quarter section of land, that was located and recorded Oc- 
tober 16, 1S19. The location, as indicated in the documents, was in Pilce County, Ill- 
inois, just as the spirit had stated." 

We have now briefly reviewed the character of the vast and abundant tes- 
timony which the annals of Spiritualism afford in answer to the question ciii 
bono ? pointed to the varied and ever-increasing phenomena with which it is 
rife, and conclude our notice of the movement in the New England States 
by selecting one of the numerous examples which the times furnished of the 
effect which the irresistible progress of the cause produced upon professing 
Christians. The following extract from the records of the day Avill prove for 
itself the desperate methods by which the afflicted shepherds of souls sought 
to hinder their flocks from participating in the new light, which all other ef- 
forts had failed to extinguish. It is taken from the columns of the Spiritual 
Age, the editor of which prefaces its introduction with these remarks : 

" We have received the following circular with a request that we would give it, through 
our columns, a more extended circulation than would be secured to it by sending one copy 
to each family in the Baptist Church at Ballston Spa, New York. 

" We comply with this request very cheerfully, and, moreover, call the attention of our 
readers to so truly orthodox a production without the least fear that the effect of its perusal 
will damage our ovrai subscription list. — Editor Spiritual Age. 

"'CIRCULAR. 

" ' To the members of the Baptist Church, Ballston Spa : 

" • Whereas, The theory and practices of Spiritualism, or necromancy, are believed by 
us to be directly contrary to the teachings of the Bible, by which it is expressly condemned 
as an abomination in the sight of God ; and, 

' ' ' 'Whe7'eas, We discover from experience that its practice leads directly to gross infidelity 
and the subversion of Christian character and reputation, and thus involves a gi-eat reproacli 
to the cause of Christ ; therefore, 

" ' Resolved^ That we affectionately request all brethren and sisters to desist and invari- 
ably refrain from all connection with the thing, and from all countenance of it, whether by 
word or deed. 

"•' Arid resolved. That the clerk be mstructed to print the above resolutions, and send 
one copy to each family in the church. 

" 'Done in church-meeting at Ballston Spa, February 4, 1854. 

" ' Charles T. Harris, Church Clerk. 

" ^Saratoga Republican.'' " 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 207 

The same paper from which the above circular is copied publishes a dis- 
course of the Rev. T. I.. Harris, at that tbne a full believer and indefatigable 
advocate of the truths of Spiritualism. 

Although this discourse, entitled " the New Ministry," by no means ex- 
presses in its fullness the length, breadth, or beauty of Spiritualism, its ap- 
pearance coincident with that of the Ballston Spa circular, charging on Spir- 
itualism the act of bringing "a great reproach on the cause of Christ," is, to 
say the least of it, signilicant, and requires that the two documents should be 
perused by every candid reader side by side : and before Christian brethren 
and sisters determine to refrain from "the thing" on the charge of the Bap- 
tist shepherd's view of it, let the said "thing" speak for itself concerning its 
own relation to Christian life and character. 

The following extracts from Mr. Harris's discourse are sufficiently indica- 
tive of the whole : 

"But there is an argument still more grave than any to which I have hitherto alluded. 
It is said that persons in the interior state are hostile to the Christian revelation. To this 
I answer that I for one will never admit that the influxes flowmg through a spiritual seer 
are necessarily hostile to revelation. . . . 

"All the prophets were interior and illuminated men. Through them came not any sort 
of denial of religion, but the very revelations that confirm religion. 

"All the apostles were interior and illuminated men, and we are indebted to them for 
Clu-istianity itself in its documentary and historical form. 

" Like seeks like ; if there is a sublime Christianity in heaven it must flow dowm to man. 
I can conceive of no form of Christian ministry more grand than a ministry of Christ-like 
men, in sympathy with humanity and en rappoj-t with the skies. 

" This or that medium may be influenced by the peculiarities of his organization, by the 
tendencies of his intellect, by his associations in the body, and by his impressions from the 
spiritual world, to take ground against some revelations in the past. This I do not deny, 
but I maintain that if religion be true, our strongest allies are in the world beyond the 
grave 

" Christianity needs not the sanction of authority ; it courts investigation. It sits in the 
sun, and says to all men, ' Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good.' .... 

"It may be objected that we are to try the spirits, and believe only those that teach that 
Christ has come in the flesh. To this I reply : 

" This passage in St. John has no certainty as a test. I believed it in my early experi- 
ence as a medium, and acted on it. However valued it may have been in the period for 
which it was written, it is useless now. 

" I prefer to try spirits by their works. We cannot gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of 
thistles. ' Not they that say ' Lord, Lord,' inherit the kingdom, but they that know the will 
of the Father and do it.' " 



CHAPTER XXL 



SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS — "MOUNTAIN COVE." 

. ..." This man is the great power of God." 

Acts of the Apostles. 

"Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" 

Job, xxxvii. — 2. 

How THE Apostolic Brotherhood Grew from a Circumference back to a 
Centre — How the Centre Burst and Vanished into Thin Air — How 
it Gathered itself up again, and Grew Beyond its own Centre and 
Circumference, and Soared away Beyond Itself — How Mr. Charles 
Partridge brought it back to Earth again until it found its Level. 

It now becomes the duty of a faithful scribe to record some of those 
darker shades of the spiritualistic history, which, doubtless, in the providential 



2o8 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

plan, as on the canvas of the artist, are essential features in the landscapes 
of human destiny. In fulfilling this part of our mis-sion, let it be understood 
that we write with no unkind intent toward the individuals whose experiences 
we detail. Doubtless their acts, if stimulated somewhat more by mundane 
than supra-mundane psychology, were still measurably influenced by the mag- 
netic contagion of the time. One marked result of spirit influence has been 
to externalize character, and develop into sudden prominence the hidden 
traits, perhaps scarcely known to their possessors. 

In accordance with tire testimony adduced, even in the last chapter, it will 
be seen that vicious persons, hitherto deemed irreclaimable, have been led 
into the paths of virtue and goodness by the angelic ministrations of guardian 
spirits ; on the other hand it is certain that latent evil tendencies are not 
uufrequently matured into ugly prominence by the effects of magnetism, 
especially in its indiscriminate use or in heterogeneous circles. Let these 
remarks be borne in mind, and dug weight be attached to the original idiosyn- 
cracies of individual characters, ere we proceed to charge upon Spiritual- 
ism the onus of the follies and fanaticisms which become revealed in the 
history of the various movements which deform the sacred name of Spiritual- 
ism, under the pretence of "reforms," an example of which we now propose 
to record, in the notorious "Mountain Cove" movement. 

This remarkable transaction originated about 1850, at which time spiritual 
manifestations had taken strong hold of many enthusiastic minds in the town 
of Auburn, New York. Here, in consequence of its proximity to the scene 
of the first demonstrations at Hydesville, and the number of the mediumistic 
gifts caUed forth by investigation. Spiritualism had a fair chance of exhibiting 
its tendency to externalize latent specialties in human character. The 
egotist became inflated by "the power" into a behef of direct communion 
with the highest heavens, and especial gifts from heavenly personages. Ob- 
scure fanactics suddenly announced themselves authorized by some high 
apostolic dignatary to undertake "missions," the least of which was destined 
to move the world, and subvert all its present existing institutions. 

"The Holy Ghost," was the favorite authority with this class of inspired 
ones, and no one under the rank of an apostle- — except now and then a 
Jewish prophet, or patriarch — was deemed worthy to hold communication 
with these "highly favored of the Lord." 

Meantime, the immediate personal advent of the "Messiah" was declared 
to be the aim of the manifestations, whilst the self-elected saints of the dis- 
pensation were every one the particular "John Baptists" of the second 
coming. The great body of Spiritualists, who happily represented the ma- 
jority as well as the common-sense of the movement, were contented to seek 
for the facts of identity which proved them to be in communion with the 
spirits of recognized friends and kindred. Such tests were striking and 
abundant, and with them communications were often made from spirits who 
v^^ere once highly distinguished on earth, and who represented themselves as 
engaged in the task of missionary labor, for some special season or puipose ; 
but few , if any, whose communications brought with them internal evidence 
of their claims to respect and credence, attempted to dictate to mortals, or 
impose upon them any other authority than such as they would have exercised 
over others legitimately on earth. 

The leaders of the "Auburn Apostolic Circle" were originally a few per- 
sons, who, notwithstanding their high and pretentious claim to communicate 
with no spirit born out of Judea, or after the year i of the Christian era, 
still failed to secure adherents outside " the faithful," or to induce the sinful 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 209 

world to purchase the tracts, wherein the wisdom of Solomon appeared 
clothed in very bad grammar, and the theology of St. Paul came forth masked 
in orthography quite too hard for modern v\^ell-bred Peters to swallow. But 
though it. was at last discovered that the blind made but a poor hand of lead- 
ing the blind, the usual resort of getting on the blind side of the strong, and 
pampering to the weakness of the ambitious, in this as in other cases, proved 
successful. "In the fulness of time" the "Apostolic circles "were directed 
by their archangelic leaders, through Mrs. Benedict's rapping, to summon to the 
Avork the two " chosen vessels" before alluded to, namely, the Rev. J. L. 
Scott, a Baptist preacher, and the Rev. Thomas L. Harris, an Universalist, 
both of New York City. 

Shortly after the accession of these two "great lights," a paper superior in 
tone and orthography to anything that the apostolic band had hitherto put 
forth, appeared, under the caption of "Disclosures from the Interior, and 
Superior Care for Mortals." If the grammar and style of this publication had 
risen with its new editors, its authoritative claims kept ample pace with its 
improvements ; for whilst its columns were, humanly speaking, chiefly indited 
b}'' the twin "Reverends," Scott and Plarris, their words, they informed 
their readers, were Avholly dictated or inspired by a circle of prophets and 
apostles, who derived, in their turn, plenary inspiration from the "Lord Su- 
preme himself" 

Besides the strongest affirmations of the duty and deference which the 
whole v/orld owed to the " Apostolic Circle " in general, and Scott and Harris 
in particular, it was claimed through Mr. Harris that his interior revelations 
were dictated by Paul, John, Daniel, and other distinguished Biblical per- 
sonages, whilst the poetry which enlivened the columns of the "Disclosures," 
was the spiritual lucubrations of none less than Coleridge, Shelley, Pollock, 
and a few of the higher geniuses of modern times, to whom Mr. Harris 
thought proper to assign prominent positions in the celestial realms, of which 
he alleged himself to be a frequent and privileged visitor. 

The authority maintained by Scott and Harris over the credulity of their 
followers would be amusing enough to read of, were it not for the monstrous 
assumption of their pretensions and the degradation of such intellects as 
could submit to their claims. After the society had maintained its place 
amongst the people of Auburn until forbearance appeared to be no longer a 
virtue, and they received pretty emphatic hints that their holinesses might 
find their longer residence in that profane city disagreeable, Mr. Scott had 
a timely vision, v/hich suggested a " change of base," whereupon " the faith- 
ful " removed to Mountain Cove, Fayette County, Virginia, and under the 
leadership of Scott, were guided to that particular spot, which the inspired 
ones of the band informed the rest was inhabited by no less a personage than 
the spirit of Isaiah the Prophet ! Here, in the company of about one hun- 
dred persons, who had been induced to join him and throw in "all things in 
common," including in some instances very considerable Avorldly possessions, 
Mr. Scott became elevated to a height where no other atom of frail mortality 
could follow him, much less comprehend or question the edicrs which he, in 
a supernal condition of inspiration, enunciated. In short, Mr. Scott claimed 
to be " divinely inspired," and having soared away above even the circle of 
prophets and apostles who formerly attended him, and attained even "unto 
the counsels of the Most Pligh," he henceforward claimed supreme and 
unquestionable authority in all matters, whether social, religious, temporal, 
eternal, or financial^ that concerned those who were privileged with him to 
share the joys of "the holy mountain." If a question should arise as to 
14 



2IO HISTORY OF MODERN 

whether one man, in this nineteenth century, could enunciate such blasphe 
mous pretensions and find rational human beings who could submit to them, 
let the sceptical reader satisfy himself by perusing the statements of one 
who had the most peculiar facilities, not only for becoming acquainted with 
the interior arrangements of the Mountain Cove New Jerusalem, but who 
preserved in published form many of the literal utterances upon Avhich the 
great Prophets of the Mountain founded their claims : we refer to Mr. E. W. 
Capron, from whose admirable Avork on the facts and fanaticisms of modern 
Spiritualism, we present the following account of this remarkable move- 
ment. 

"I have endeavored from every source to obtain accurate information and give an 
impartial history of this singular movement. From an acquaintance who was induced to join 
the movement and spent a long time at the Cove, I have received a statement of which the 
following is the substance : 

"Mr. Scott and others arrived in Fayette County, Virginia, in the month of October, 
1 85 1, for the purpose of establishing the community of true believers in Spiritualism, with 
Scott at the head. It was stated and understood, before any of tlie company left Auburn, 
that the land, when purchased, would be sold in small quantities to all who wished to settle 
with them, and those unable to purchase house and land would be furnished by the 
association. 

"They also were promised business, such as each were able to perform ; each family to 
be their own regulator, as fully as out of the association. The labor performed was to be 
paid for at a fair remuneration. Schools were to be established, and different branches of 
business instituted 

" It was also understood that there was to be no dictation in the movement; but the 
•whole was to be imder the direction of ' the spirits,' and that all things should be governed 
on the principles of brotherhood, unity, and equality. On the 2d of December, 1S51 [the 
day on which my inform.ant arrived at Mountain Cove], himself and some sixty others were 
told by Scott, who had somehow been given, or taken the title of 'Doctor,'' that he was 
receiving communications from the Deity. Scott declared that he received these commu- 
nications, standing ' face to face with God !' and strange as it may appear, most of the 
people there believed this story. 

"Soon after this, Scott informed the people that he had been appointed, by high spiritual 
power, medium absolute, and that nothing but truth would or could henceforth be given 
through him, and that whatever was given through him must not be doubted, all doubting 
being rank heresy. Soon after this, Scott informed Mr. H. ■ — [my informant] that there 
had been a serious quarrel among them before he [Mr. H.] arrived. 

" To the question as to what was the cause of the quarrel, Scott replied that a certain 
individual had slandered his character, and alleged that he had been guilty of licentiousness 
and adultery. 

" Mr. H. replied that the matter ought to be investigated at once. 

" A meeting was accordingly called, professedly for that purpose. There were but few 
persons present, and as soon as it was organized, Scott professed to pass into the 'superior 
or clairvoyant state,' and said, 'We' — himself and his particular friends — 'must stand 
firm, and say nothing unless the enemy makes the attack.' 

"And thus ended the investigation into the charges of licentiousness against Mr. Scott. 
Those who had first made the -charge continued it, but no other 'investigation' was ever 
instituted. 

" Strife and dissension continued from that time to distract the 'harmonious mount.' In 
February, 1852, the plantation originally purchased was returned to the person from whom 
it was bought, as the payments on it could not be met. At this time several families left 
the place on account of the contention and want of confidence that prevailed in the move- 
ment. In this emergency a meeting was called, and Scott passing into the 'superior state,' 
gave the following communication : ' James must go to New York to seek new minds to 
carry on the Lord' s work. ' The ' James, ' of course, was himself. 

" In adcordance with his own direction, he went to the city of New York, and with the 
aid of Rev. Thomas L. Harris, succeeded in inducing several persons of property to engage 
in the enterprise. Being thus provided with funds, Scott returned and re-purchased the 
Cove property, which they had surrendered in February. About the first of May, 1S52, 
Thomas L. Harris and family, and several other families, arrived at the ' New Jerusalem.' It 
should be mentioned, that as soon as Scott returned from New York, he resumed all his 



'AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 2II 

tone (if unlimited and arbitrary authority, declaring that * the people should work to the 
line and plummet,' and those that did not sympathize with his views should leave the 
place. 

"This latter command was carried out, and the persons obnoxious to him were sent 
away. On the arrival of Mr. Harris, a new era in the spiritual affairs of the community 
commenced. 

"It was announced that Scott and Harris were 'the chosen mediums,' through which 
'the Lord would communicate to man on earth,' and that all other mediums would be 
silenced, or become the channels of communication for deceptive and lying spirits. Thus, 
they claimed for themselves infallibility and 'truth absolute, direct from heaven." 

"In proof of this, a letter was sent to the still-confiding circle of believers at Auburn, 
from which the following passages may be taken as illustrative of the enormous claims set 
up by these 'divinely-inspired mediums of the Lord.' After detailing in the usual inflated 
style the growth and procedure of the ' Apostolic Circle ' in its initial steps, the pastoral 
epistle goes on to say : 

" 'In these, our dictated and recognized records,* James L. Scott and Thomas L. Harris 
are styled 'vehicle? of inspiration,' provided for the transmission of truth from heaven to 
the external world. It is also^\Titten therein that these vehicles were specially provided and 
prepared for this end, and that the apostles, martyrs, and confessors, together with the 
prophets, patriarchs, and seers, lifted supplication for inspu-ation to pervade the chosen 
vehicles ; that their prayers received response loud from the angelic messengers ; that the 
glory of God filled the sanctuary, and that the voice of the Lord Creator was audible 
therein and gave answer favoring the supplication. 

" ' Thus be it kno\\Ti, a further commission was given unto the mortals aforesaid, consti- 
tuting them in unity as the organ of inspired communication from the celestial sphere. In 
order that this their work might be accomplished, their minds were blended by supernatural 
influence, and thus made one adapted vehicle for transmission of truth absolute, and light, 
in confirmation and exposition of truth previously revealed from heaven to man.' " 

[A vast deal more of a similar nature follows, which it would be equally 
repulsive and unnecessary to reprint. The message ends thus.] 

" Having thus guided the vehicles of communication to the place directed by His most 
holy will and united them thereupon, the spirit who desireth and establisheth the redeem- 
ing procedure, issueth commandment unto us. His messengers, to resume 'the Disclosures' 
of his truth without delay, that His name may thereby be glorified. His people instructed 
and comforted, and His compassionate and loving kindness, in accordance with the purpose 
in the consummation of His procedure, be manifest xmto the earth and the inhabitants 
thereof." 

Of the communications whereby "the Lord's people" were to be so spe- 
cially " instructed and comforted," the following sentences, spoken, of course, 
in the "interior condition," by Scott, may be taken as a specimen. 

"I read ^^Titten in letters of fire, ' Dost thou believe ? and what dost thou believe ? Who, 
thinkest thou, called thee here ? Who inspireth ? Not an angel, for he is led ; not a seraph, 
for he is controlled ; not created existence, for that is inspired. Who, then, thinkest thou, 

called thee to the mountain ? Who but God inspireth I am that I am 

now inquireth of thee ; and prepare to answer thou me None other 

than God, thy Redeemer, calleth for thee. None other than He who hath the keys of death 
and hell addresseth you through one of your members." 

And in pursuance of this claim — to which, as the reader will perceive, 
Moses' claim of direct personal intercourse Avith the Jewish Jehovali was 
humility itself — ]\Ir. Scott soon after called upon his followers to yield up all 
pecuniary interest in their own possessions to him, which command he issued 
in a gerieral address " to Spiritualists everj-^where," of which the following is 
an extract : 

* " Disclosures from the Interior." 



212 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" But while spirits opei'ate from the interior, man in clay demancietli external benefit, 
and God supplieth, by laws operating externally and external means conducted by external 
stewards, chosen for external purposes. He hath therefore aforetime committed to your 
chaige, as his stewards, the means designed to be employed while conducting the external in 
the manifestation unto its consummation. And lo ! now he cometh and calleth upon you, 
and requireth the charge committed with its improvement. [To wit, principal and interest. 
— Author.] Who so hath and now consecrateth to this gi-eat work, to him shall be 
given, and he shall have more in abundance. Xo him who holdeth in his hands the gifts of 
God, and hath not occupied for His glory, and is wanting in disposition to render back to 
the author of all blessing, from him shall be taken even that which he hath ; for the earth and 
the substance thereof is the Lord's, and in the redemption He establishes therein His king- 
dom ; hence his will shall be done on earth, as by angels in heaven. Come, then, to the 
mountain with thy substance ; give it to the Lord, who calleth for thee ! for he now pro- 
videth a feast of fat things which shall be unto all people, and proceedeth to remove, by the 
immortalizing procedure, the veil of mortality, cast through sin over all nations." 

Among other specimens of this movement ixit forth by the leaders, we have 
in our possession a paper called the Mountain Cove Journal, but as its col- 
umns are simply reiterations of the claims alleged above, sermons to the same 
purpose by Harris, and bulletins issued direct from the high empyrean courts 
of Heaven, by Scott, it would be smiply a repetition of an already disgusting 
theme to reprint them. We conclude our notice of the Mountain Cove drama 
by a further quotation from Mr. Capron's informant, and one of the partici- 
pators in the scenes he so graphically describes. Mr. H. says : 

"Mr. Harris frequently declared that the house which he and Scott inhab- 
ited was the house of God, while Mountain Cove was the gate of Heaven ; that 
the redemption of man on earth would commence there, and all who opposed 
them, "the two perfect prophets," would be driven from the mountain, from 
which there would be no redemption. Some time during the summer of 1852, 
it was declared that the spirits, through Scott and Harris, had announced to 
"the faithful" that a certain piece of land within a boundary which contained 
the Cove buildings must be leased to the Lord as his heritage. Accordingly, 
"the faithful" assembled, and the spirits, through the two prophets, directed 
the lease to be made out in their names, as the "Lord's chosen vessels," a 
command that was obeyed accordingly. 

The Lord and his chosen ones being secured in their lease, a series of per- 
secutions were commenced against all who in any way rebelled from the 
authority of the "two perfect mediums." Slander, discord, and conten- 
tion were rife, and peace and harmony were unknown among the chosen 
people. 

In the fall of 1852, Scott and Harris had proclaimed that they were the two 
witnesses named in the tenth chapter of Revelations, and that they possessed 
the powers, to their fullest extent, spoken of therein. Strange as it may a^npear, 
they found adherents and firm believers in this declaration ; persons who were 
kept in awe by these self-appointed saints and their constant assertion of their 
own divine authority. In one of his prayers, uttered about this time, Llarris 
said : " Oh Lord, thou know est we do not wish to destroy man with fire from 
our mouths 1" etc. 

The state of discord continuing to increase into a perfect pandemonium, 
and one after another becoming more and more disgusted with the arbitrary 
assumption of divine power and holiness on the part of the dictators, many 
departed and left the Cove to the most fanatical, but finally the whole move- 
ment entirely dispersed This history adds another to the wild 

and numerous schemes conceived in the spirit of religious fanaticism, and born 
of the spiritual excitement, which was made a convenient hobby for men who 
graduated through the old forms of theological mysticism, until there was 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 213 

nothing new in the field to feed their ambition but a pretence to special calls 
and special inspiration." 

Thus ended the " Mountain Cove movement," but unfortunately the spirit 
that gave it birth was still in active existence. 

The love of rule and the insane desire for spiritual distinction seem to surpass 
in greed all other forms of human ambition. Whether it be that men really 
deem the divine government, whose empire they audaciously assume, is strictly 
impersonal, or too far off to interfere with them, or that they can actually psy- 
chologize themselves into a belief in the reality of the claims they arrogate, 
it would be difficult to decide, but certain it is that the demon of ambition 
which had vented its arrogance at Mountain Cove could not be laid by a single 
failure. 

Mr. Thomas L. Harris returned to the world to run a mingled career of 
supra-mundane usefulness and sub-mundane folly, which the spirits that held 
sway at Mountain Cove, alone could have been the authors of. For two or 
three years after the above episode, the disgrace v/hich it entailed on the name 
of Spiritualism was temporarily obliterated by the brilliant evidences of spirit- 
power which Mr. Harris manifested in the improvisation of his wonderful 
poems, "A Lyric of the Golden Age," "An Epic of the Starry Heavens," 
"The Morning Land/' etc. 

In these, as in other minor poetical productions, Mr. Harris claimed that 
the spirits of Byron, Keats, Shelley, Coleridge, Pollock, and other celebrated 
poets were his inspiring genii. He not only cited their names and assigned 
various portions of his works to their authorship, but compelled from the 
grudging pen of his critics unqualified admissions of the striking similarity of 
style observed in the poems to their renowned spiritual authors, while many 
acknowledgments were made that these magnificent poetical marvels were 
fully worthy of any names, however illustrious, or any authorship, however 
honored. 

Meantime these efforts of genius were poured forth, wholly impromptu, in 
the presence of many witnesses and under circumstances that could leave no 
doubt of their supra-mundane origin. 

Besides these tokens of spiritual control, Mr. Harris frequently acted as a 
test medium, giving communications to strangers, and describing spirits with 
an accuracy which left no doubt of their identity. 

And yet, after thus lending himself to the propagation of the spiritual faith 
with unwearied assiduity and an amount of mediumistic power which amply 
qualified him for a successful propagandist, we find him again assuming the 
airs of apostolic leadership. Separating himself from the Society of Spiritual- 
ists meeting at Dodvvorth's Hall, New York, by whom he had been often 
acceptably employed as a speaker, when they would not avail themselves of 
his services as their permanent ruler, Mr. Harris proceeded to draft off a few 
attached followers into what he called a "New Brotherhood," a "Sacred Fam- 
ily," etc. ; titles by which he dignified certain little gatherings of persons 
devoted to his opinions, whom he attempted to control on the Mountain 
Cove plan. 

Mr. Harris's fine mediumship, wonderful poetical improvisations, and former 
devoted advocacy of the cause of Spiritualism, unquestionably identified him 
at one time with that faith and its adherents in America; hence the belief still 
exists among many persons, especially in Europe, that he yet represents the 
Spiritualism of America, and that his somewhat eccentric proceedings are due 
to the peculiarities of tliat faith. In justice to the cause of tmth, it is proper 
to state that when Mr. Harris found that the Spiritualists meeting at Dod- 



214 HISTORY OF MODERN 

worth's Hall, New York, repudiated his pretensions to leadership, and his 
attempt to usurp authority was met by a public rebuke from an honored mem- 
ber of the committee who employed him, he immediately felt the necessity of 
severing his connection with that "profane" and "infidelic" body, and bitterly 
denouncing the "falses" of their faith; whereupon he gathered together a lit- 
tle handful of "the faithful," to whom, in his own exclusive meetings, he pro- 
ceeded to pour forth torrents of abuse against the society in whose behalf he 
had before been a zealous worker. 

This separation occurred in the winter of 1858-9, shortly after which Mr. 
Harris, now the professed champion of " Christianity " versus "Spiritualistic 
Pantheism," published a poem called the " Song of Satan," an epic of so 
shocking and repulsive a character that even many of his best friends were 
obliged to credit its inspiration to the source which the title so candidly 
claimed for it. In this truly Satanic production, the author assumes that all 
the spirits that come to earth to communicate to men save only the celes- 
tials who visit the "Sacred Family" and their leader, are "demons" in the 
worst sense of the word. These "demons" he represents as personating 
the spirit of the poets, whom he formerly claimed had inspired his charming 
epics. 

Thus, the name of the honored dead, no less than others too sacred to be 
mentioned in such a connection, are ixiixed up in his dark and evil imaginings 
until he scruples not to represent himself, in the only really honorable and 
useful portion Of his career, as the agent or medium of "infernals," for the 
sake of stigmatizing every other spirit medium in the same detestable cate- 
gory. All these preceedings he brought to a climax by announcing to his 
very little flock at New York that he had been "intromitted" into some 
supernal degree, which obliged him to visit England, in which place he 
poured out to the astonished ears of the English Spiritualists, not thoroughly 
informed on the politics and personages of American Spiritualism, such a 
tide of abuse against his former associates, occupations, and spirit-guides, 
that the prejudice thus raised in a position where it could not be met and 
conquered, has never been fully eradicated from the minds of the Anglican 
Spiritualists. The chief advantage resulting from this coup d'etat of the great 
self-appointed apostle, may be found in the simple, manly, and to this day, 
incontrovertable statement wherewith Mr. Charles Partridge met and 
answered the ex-spirit-medium's charges against American Spirituahsm and 
American Spiritualists. 

We shall quote Mr. Partridge's paper verbatim, as it gives an interior view 
of a strange and anomalous life, the darker hues of which the world has unscru- 
pulously attributed to the influence of Spiritualism. Perhaps a careful peru- 
sal of the following article may reverse the picture, and show how much the 
noble cause of Spiritualism has to endure, from the " demonic" characteristics 
of man, when he is impelled by his own human promptings to use that cause 
as a hobby to move the chariot of his own ambitious cravings for spiritual 
leadership and distinction. 

SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH— NEW YORK, FEBRUARY i8, iS6o. 

"If all persons who have heard or may hear Brother Harris, and if those who have read 
the above article,* and others of like character which may be published, knew the peculiari- 
ties of Mr. H. as well as those do who have been most intimate with him during the last fif- 
teen years, it would be unnecessary to make any reply to his unsparing denunciation of all 

* Mr. Harris' sermon, preached in London, England, on American Spiritualism, republished in the 
iipiriiual Telegraph, New" York. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 215 

those who do not accept hun as their oracle, and labor to help him magnify his assumed 
office. But those unfamiliar with him, do not know his weaknesses ; besides, he goes out 
from us to a foreign land under the insignia of a Reverend, and to the brethren and 
friends of the same general cause, denounces by wholesale the great body of Spiritualists 
m America as ' Pantheists,' rejecting alike the ideas of Scripture as a divine revelation, and 
the existence of God, and as gross sensualists, and immoral in their conduct in all relations 
of life. These are grave charges ; and it is not to be supposed that a brother would prefer 
them in a foreign land without a cause. What then is the cause ? 

"If the charges were true even, it is contrary to the genius of the new dispensation to 
magnify human delinquencies to the neighbor and much more to do this in a foreign land, 
where there is little or no opportunity for the accused to be heard in defence. But the 
g^etit body of Spiritualists in America deny severally and smgly the charges preferred 
against them by Mr. Harris. 

" Each one claims for himself the same right to investigate and determine whether the 
Scriptures are partial or plenary revelations of Divine truth, which Mr. Harris has exer- 
cised for himself; but they do not recognize Mr. Harris's right to dictate for their accep- 
tance his peculiar views of Divine truth, and here is the rock of offence, and the sole gi'ound 
of his charges. 

"The Spiritualists' creed, if they have any, respecting the Divine rights and duties of man 
as to faith, knowledge, and Conduct, is that each person shall be permitted to observe, 
experience, reflect, reason, and judge for himself. 

" Truth, rather than man, is their oracle. We can conceive of no objection to this, save 
by those aspiring to be oracles. 

"Spiritualists of America have no inquisition to try men's faith apd conduct by; but 
each person who claims to believe that spirits communicate with mortals is by common 
consent a Spiritualist. Consequently there may be Spiritualists who are Pantheists and 
sensualists, and so, perhaps there may be some persons who do not believe in Divine revela- 
tion exactly as Brother Harris teaches ; but what authority does a man derive from these 
facts to denounce the great body of Spiritualists in America as Pantheists, sensualists, and 
rejectors of Divine revelation? 

" The gi'eat body of Spiritualists in America has many members, some of whom saw 
great lights and heard spirit voices whilst persecuting the faith. The balm of the new dis- 
pensation has done much for the restoration of wounded minds and consciences, and if it 
has not yet had time to make them all perfect, it is hopeful to accomplish much in the way 
of doing so. But Brother Harris's accusations against Spiritualists are but a duplicate of 
those he preferred against the Universalist denomination, to which he is indebted for the 
insignia of 'Reverend,' which he now uses to sanctify his denunciations of both faiths. 

" While Brother Harris was settled over the Universalist Society in Elizabeth street, in 
this city, some fourteen years ago, he became infatuated with the revelations which were just 
then being given through Andrew Jackson Davis, and when these were published under the 
title of ' Nature's Divine Revelations,' Mr. Harris asked leave of his society to go to 
Europe for his health, which being generously gi-anted by the society, Mr. Harris, instead 
of going to Europe, went to this and other western States lecturing, not for the 'Divine 
Revelations' of the Bible, but for those of Andrew Jackson Davis. The society continued 
their leave of absence, settling Rev. E. H. Chapin in place of Mr. Harris. After a time, 
the latter relinquished his ardor for ' Nature's Divine Revelations,' and has since denounced 
its author as cordially as he did the Universalists and Spiritualists. 

"Brother Harris subsequently tried to build up a society to sustain his preaching in this 
city. He preached in the Socialists and afterwards preached them out ; and his erratic 
preaching caused a constant change of hearers, and the meetings were not sustained. 

"He subsequently commenced preaching in the Stuyvesant Institute, and while laboring 
there endeavored to show the possibility of spirit intercourse. During this time one Dr. 
Scott, a Baptist minister, discovering that singular phenomena occurred in the presence of 
a Mrs. Benedict, of Auburn, New York, concluded that he had evidence that St. Paul com- 
municated through her rappings. 

" The idea that St. Paul would and could condescend to speak through a mortal much 
excited Mr. Harris, and arrangements were made for Mrs. Benedict and Dr. Scott to come 
to Mr. Harris's boarding-place at Brooklyn, and deliver the oracles of St. Paul to twelve 
chosen persons, and if possible develop or remodel Mr. Harris, so that henceforth he should 
be Paul's oracle to the world. Dr. Scott also became infatuated with the ambition of being 
a medium for some of the apostles, and fancied that he was accepted by St. John, and 
henceforth they supposed that St. Paul and St. John communicated through them. 

"It would make this article too lengthy to give the minutise of the dramatic perfox^mances 
to which these men subjected themselves to secure these mediatorial offices. 



2i6 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" It is sufficient to say that they worked themselves into the persuasion that they haii 
been chosen by God, Christ, and the Apostles, as the mediums of their oracles to mankind, 
and, under the flattering unction of this persuasion, they set about gatherinr^ the elect, and 
travelling westward to a land sufficiently pure for the influx and efflux of Divine wisdom. 

" They induced a small company to take up their beds and follow them to Mountain 
Cove, Virginia, where they made purchases and settled. * 

" Here they established the Mountain Cove yournal, and through its columns tliey gave, 
as they supposed, supernal wisdom of ' God, Christ, and the Apostles' to the world ; and 
it was very generally conceded that it might be ' supernal wisdom,' since no mortal could 
comprehend it. In about two years, we believe, this community broke up in great confu- 
sion, amidst the criminations and recriminations which have generally attended the various 
changes of Brother Harris's visions and enterprises. 

"Mr. Harris then returned to New York, and the Spiritualists received him as it be- 
comes a father to receive a prodigal son, and invited him to lecture for them in Alcdical 
Hall, which they procured for that purpose. Here Brother Harris delivered some of the 
most scorching discourses on the Scriptures as a Divine revelation, and the Christian Church 
generally, that we have ever listened to. They were even too strong for those whom he 
now denounces as rejecting the Scriptures as a divine revelation. Nevertheless, we heard 
him gladly, not as an oracle, and not for his censoriousness, but for his acknowledged elo- 
quence and zeal in what he appeared to think right. 

"After a few months had elapsed, and the mortification of his Mountain Cove' apostolic 
failure had subsided, he seemed to come more and more to himself, and preached some 
excellent discourses to the Spiritualists at Dodworth's Hall. Finally, his prevailing ambi- 
tion to have a church began to pester him, and grew into an open demand, to which the 
Spiritualists did not accede, when the Mountain Cove spirit again took control of him, and 
he concluded that the love and wisdom of God and Christ were not permitted to penetrate 
the cloud of evil spirits, and flow dov.'n, even through him, to the reprobate minds, as he 
alleged them to be, which congregated to hear him in that place. 

"This he said to them, in some of his last discourses, in the plainest terms, and at the 
same time he called upon the few pure minds to go out, follow him, and help to build up 
the kingdom of God. Brother Harris and some others then separated themselves from the 
main body of Spiritualists in this city, and they afterward met in the chapel of the Univer- 
sity, under the assumed insignia of the Swedenborgians, namely, "The New Church ;" and 
in liis teachings he even out-Swedenborgd Swedenborg himself, much to the annoyance of 
many of his disciples, who feigned to know something of the philosophy of the Swedish seer 
before. He continued to spealc here to a small company of admirers, until he became 
persuaded — and so said' — that he had been developed above their plane of comprehension, 
and that the Lord had prepared a man to receive the mantle of that plane of teaching, and 
that he had been instructed to soar aloft, go to Europe, and disseminate ' supernal wisdom ' 
there. 

"Subsequent to the time when he withdrew himself from Dodworth's Academy, he 
formed the persuasion that the higher spirits were constantly trying to ward off the evil 
ones, and that they were trying to develop him into a higher plane, for which purpose it 
was necessary that he should keep his bed. 

" This he did, eating but little, and in bed he wrote, or rather dictated to his amanu- 
ensis, v/hat appeared in his publications. He was persuaded that he acted m accordance 
with the dictates of the apostles, Christ, and God, and only got up when he thought they 
so impressed him, which was only on Sundays to preach. 

" Thus we have with pain and sorrow responded to the demands of the article in the 
London Critic, in giving a very brief history of ]Mr. Harris, during fifteen years. 

" We have not done this to injure him, far from it, but in the defence of truth, and as 
an illustration of a prevalent psychical phenomenon which is often mistaken for spirit 
influence, and to call Brother Harris's attention to the changes which have come over his 
mind, to the end that he may be less positive in his opinion as to the divinity of his persua- 
sion, and, above all, to be less censorious of the brethren who are not willing to follow him 
in his sudden changes, and chimerical enterprises. 

"If also this narrative shall suggest to his friends the injury they do him by falling 
into his persuasion, and thus binding him more strongly in psychical chains, we shall be 
thankful Charles Partridge." 

* In the Spiritual Telegraj>h of October i6, 1852, will be found a long article from the pen of Mr. T. S. 
Hyatt, one of the Mountain Cove brethren, and editor of one of the earliest periodicals issued by the "Apos- 
tolic Circle" at Auburn. Mr. Hyatt states his case with much frankness, and assigns reasons veiy similar to 
those supplied by I\lr. Capron ior liis secession from the " Holy Mountain ;" indeed Mr. Hyatt was I\lr. 
Capron's "informant" concerning the details of the movementj and supplied the account which Mr. Capron 
abridged, and from which we have made extracts. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 217 

With Mr. Partridge's admirable analysis of a case whose disorderly psy- 
chical states refer to many others besides Mr. Harris, we close our account 
of one of the earliest, most prominent and persistent slurs that the white 
standard of Spiritualism has endured from the hands of its own legionaries. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
'the new motive power. 



' Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate ; 
Nor aught set down in malice." 

Othello. 



Very early in the publication of the Boston New Era, numerous notices 
appeared in its columns calling attention to the writings, lectures, and propa- 
gandism generally effected through the mediumship of a Mr. John M. Spear, 
a Universalist minister, whose philanthropic life had procured for him the 
title of the "prisoner's friend." Air. Spear had distinguished himself in 
nearly all the benevolent but unpopular reforms of the day. He had labored 
bravely in the Anti-Slavery, Peace, and Temperance movements ; and the 
desire to benefit his fellow-creatures was so obvious in all his public ef- 
forts, that this fearless disregard of popular opinion and faithful adherence to 
what his own heart dictated to him as right, must be borne in mind by those 
who would judge fairly of a very remarkable, but ill-understood, character. 

Mr. Spear was stated to have became a medium for the exercise of various 
spiritual gifts, about March, 1852, from which time he devoted himself with 
characteristic zeal to the use of the powers which he possessed, and to the 
dissemination of the doctrines which he claimed to have received from circles 
of "high and distinguished spirits." 

A book entitled " Messages from the Superior State," afhrmed to have 
been dictated to Mr. Spear by the spirit of John Murray, the founder of the 
sect of Universalism, was his first pubUc appearance before the world as a 
medium. His next step was the announcement that, under the direction of 
a council of " highly-exalted spirits," he was to deliver a series of public lec- 
tures, amongst which were a number of essays on various parts of the human 
organism, purporting to originate with the spirit of the celebrated Dr. Rush. 
As these, like the rest of Mr. Spear's published books, are already before the 
world, our history would have little or nothing to do with them beyond a pass- 
ing notice, were it not for the fact that their author became prominent in 
several movements whose bearing upon the progress of Spiritualism have been 
too marked and important to be passed over. 

The first of these which challenges notice was the presentation to the 
world of what its originator called a "new motive power." It requires some 
familiarity with Mr. Spear's peculiar style and idiosyncracies, to appreciate 
the history of this extraordinary claim ; moreover, as this gentleman's early 
public career illustrates in a remarkable degree the results which grew up un- 
der the hot-house process of strong magnetic intluence, and shows hoAV the 
marvel of open spirit communion developed the latent specialties of excep- 
tional natures, v/e shall antedate our notice of the " Spear movements " by 



2l8 HISTORY OF MODERN 

presenting some characteristic illustrations of their originator, drawn from the 
published matter already before the world concerning him. 

Mr. Spear was in the habit of journeying over the country as the spirit 
moved him, or, as he himself afiirmed, at the conmiand or direction of si^irits, 
to whom he professed himself willing to render a childlike and unquestioning 
obedience. In thus narrating the acts of individuals who have figured in the 
wonderful drama of which we write, we must neither be understood to en- 
dorse, nor yet to criticize them, and when we use the term "the spirits" in 
connection with the affirmation of human mediums who profess to be acting 
wholly under their influence, we do so in deference to the faith of the parties 
themselves, rather than to any disposition to label everything as " spiritual" 
which claims such an origin. 

That Mr. Spear honestly believed in a spiritual origin for the various 
"missions" he undertook, and the remarkable part which he played, none 
who have ever come into personal relations with him can question. The un- 
wavering fidelity with which he adhered to his purposes, and the patience 
with which he endured reproach and odium for their execution, would attest 
his sincerity, were other evidence wanting. 

Mr. Spear alleged that in the prosecution of these said " missions," he could 
not always at first discern their object; nevertheless, he firmly believed they 
were " instigated by the highest wisdom," and "designed for the most benef- 
icent ends." 

Like many of his compeers, Mr. Spear lived by faith, trusting for direction 
and also for financial resources to the invisible world, and maintaining that 
the providential dispensations of the hour had never failed him. His numer- 
ous imitators have rarely been equally fortunate, and not a few of them have 
procured for themselves, by a too faithful copy of their remarkable exemplar, 
the harsh title of "vagrants ".and "spiritual mountebanks." In his various 
itinerant progresses, Mr. Spear frequently gave satisfactory testimony of spirit 
control, by ministering successfully to the sick, and effecting cures either by 
the laying on of hands or prescribing for different forms of disease. 

In several instances he alleged that he had been sent by a spiritual com- 
mand to the houses of total strangers residing in unknown and distant places, 
where he became impressed to lay his hands on the afflicted, for whose bene- 
fit he had been thus " spiritually led." He was also gifted with strong psychom- 
etric power, and delineated character with singular accuracy. Amongst other 
revelations which this gentleman alleged to have recieved from " on high," 
was that of the existence of divers societies in the upper spheres, whose 
names and functions he was especially instructed to make known to man- 
kind. In connection with this charge he undertook, whithersoever his wan- 
derings led him, to "consecrate" to the service of these heavenly societies 
sundry mortal assistants, upon whom he bestowed names, whose very number 
and originality was not the least curious feature of his mediumistic career. 

The earnestness and good faith with which these strange " missions " were 
achieved, and the not less memorable character of the missionaries whom he 
gathered around him, would, in any movement less broad and cosmopolitan 
than Spiritualism, have placed Mr. Spear and his followers in the position of 
a new sect, whose eccentricity of names, language, and opinions would have 
furnished all the elements required to separate them from the rest of man- 
kind. In order to give the most faithful possible representation of this sin- 
gular personage and the relations which he alleged to exist between himself 
and the dwellers of the spirit country, we shall here quote some of his own 
correspondence addi'essed to the Boston New Era. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. ZIQ 

In July, 1 85 3, Mr. Spear writes from Utica, New York, as follows : 

"NEW SPIRIT ASSOCIATIONS. 

" Brother Hewitt, — We arrived in this place on our journey homeward yeslerday. 
By spirit direction we visited Niagara Falls and Rochester ; at both these places our spirit 
friends made important declarations. At Rochester, through friend Hammond and myself, 
it was declared that the following associations had been recently formed by spkits : 

"First. An association called the Association of Electrizers. 

" Second. An association called tlie Association of Healthfulizers. 

"Third. An association called the Association of Educationizers. 

" Fourth. An association called the Association of Agricultm-alizers. 

" Fifth. An association of Elementizers. 

"Sixth. An association of Govenimentizers. 

" The above associations will co-operate with the Association of Beneficents, which was 
organized some months since, and has begim its labors. 

"It was declared that these newly-formed associations would soon select their agents to 
execute their schemes. In this place an agent has been selected by the Association of 
* Agriculturalizers,' and the selection shows great wisdom. He was given the name of ihe 
' Explorer,' and in connection with him was a Decorator. It was also declared that 
Brother Hammond would be much employed by these associations, and that he was now 
the best mediumistic writer upon the face of the earth. He was given the name of The 
Writer. It was, moreover, said that the Associations of Govemmeutizers and Education- 
izers would be selected from amongst the ' feminines.' 

" Such were some of the new things declared at Rochester. Your readers will quietly 
wait, I trust, for the fulfilment of these thmgs, and will do their part as they may be 
selected to aid the newly-formed associations. 

"Yours truly, JOHN M. Spear." 

Whether Mr. Spear's folloAvers lacked the zeal and enthusiasm which ani- 
mated their leader, or that he himself lived, talked, saw, and felt before 
his time, He who reads the secrets of human hearts, alone can decide ; cer- 
tain it is that though promises of the kind above cited, and "missions" of 
various use and spiritual co-operation were freely dealt out wherever Mr. 
Spear's indefatigable and earnest purposes led him, his followers have ob- 
served no part of his charge so faithfully as that of "waiting quietly" for the 
fulfilment of the things that were to come. 

We should be unfaitliful to the truth, which we are pledged to record in 
this history, did we omit a description of those numerous "consecrations" 
which Mr. Spear felt impressed to bestow on various individuals, who, whether 
they realized any subsequent spiritual unfoldings from such ceremonials or 
not, generally acknowledged an effect at the time sometliing akin to the 
passionate emotions of a great revival season. 

The particular instance to which we call attention occun-ed with the cele- 
brated clairvoyant and physician, Mrs. Semantha Mettler, to whom Mr. 
Spear, yielding as usual to the impressions of the hour, paid a visit, when the 
following scene is reported in the A^eia jEra to have ti-anspired : 

" Passing uito the superior state, Mr. Spear enunciated these words : 
" ' How fondly, how constantly, how widely, is this one [Airs. Mettler] beloved! How 
beautiful is the influence this woman exerts ! Wherever she is she attracts ! In this par- 
ticular she possesses a most remarkable character. Her friends know no bounds to their 
affections for this one ; and there is nothing which they would leave undone to gratify her. 
There passes from this woman a very marked influence. It is not precisely the religious 
mfluence ; it is not precisely the moral influence ; it is not precisely the practical influence ; 
but it is, so to spealv, a compost of all ; and these are charmingly intermingled, imparting 
a most adhesive mfluence. 

" ' This medium [Mr. Spear] has been commissioned to wisely instruct this woman for a 
high purpose. There is before this woman a new and beautiful labor. At ten o'clock to- 
morrow the pui-pose of his mission to this place will be unfolded. Let this woman be in 
the region of the tranquillities at that hour.' " 



220 HISTORY OF MODERN 

The report of the New Era further goes on to state, that, at ten o'clock 
the succeeding mornmg, Mr. Spear, "descending upon bended knee, pro- 
nounced tliese words : 

" ' Father of Fathers, and Deity of Deities ; Thy wills be done on the earths, as they are 
done in the heaven of heavens. This fondly loved one [Mrs. Mettler] shall be conse- 
crated to the charities. Thou shalt henceforth be called Charity. 

"'Receive now this blessed power.' Here Mrs. M.'s hand was closed and breathed 
upon, and when it was opened, it was said, — 

" ' This hand shall be unfolded to dispense blessings,' etc. 

«" It is done.'" 

That these scenes were deemed to be pregnant with high spiritual import 
is proved by the fact that they were recorded in some of the spiritual jour- 
nals of the time as matter of solemn interest, and commented upon by the 
actors therein, with terms of such enthusiastic reverence as signihcantly tes- 
tifies to their sincerity. 

Let us here state, once for all, that Mr. Spear's peculiar tone, language, 
and views Avere not accepted or sympathized in by any large class of Ameri- 
can Spiritualists ; nevertheless, they are representative of a certain number 
of his especial admirers, and their illustration, after their own fashion, is 
absolutely necessary to the full comprehension of the results which followed, 
in what has been called " the new motive power " movement. Considered 
as an isolated fact, what we are about to narrate may seem to excuse the 
opprobrious epithets with which its founder and his sympathizers were as- 
sailed ; but regarded as the production of a mind whose marked idiosyncra- 
cies became powerfully developed by the afflatus of a great revival season, 
and whose high aspirations and really reformatory aims were stimulated by 
the influence of sanguine minds of kindred nature in the spheres, the his- 
tory of the "new motive power " may be regarded as precisely the sequence 
to be expected from the temperament of its human originator. We must 
add that Mr. Spear's mind had evidently been exercised on the subject of 
combining mineral with vital electricity as a means of developing the latent 
powers of mediumship, and he had on more than one occasion subjected 
himself to the most scathing ridicule from his contemporaries by seeking to 
promote the influence and control of spirits, through the aid of copper and 
zinc batteries, so arranged about the person as to form an armor, from which 
he expected the most extrordinary phenomenal results. An experiment of 
this nature, tried at St. Louis, proved, so far as external effects were con- 
cerned, a complete failure ; hence it was denounced as " the most preposterous 
presumption and absurd fanaticism." ' 

Had any manifestly successful effects followed this attempt, the historian 
would have had a different record to make. Mr. Spear would have been 
pronounced by the Spiritualists " inspired," and by the materialists a " shrewd 
scientist." 

Success and failure are the real touchstones of public opinion ; yet who 
can say whether we are not more indebted to the bold adventurer, who is 
willing to incur the risk and odium of failure for the sake of possible success, 
than to the cautious idler who waits upon the results of others' experiments 
to determine whether he shall condemn or applaud ? After many consecra- 
tions, announcements, and premonitory symptoms of some great and mo- 
mentous crisis to follow Mr. Spear's remarkable desi2;n, the one event in the 
spiritual movement, m fact, with which his name is most prominently associ- 
ated, namely, the birdi of a " new motive power," was heralded forth to the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 22 1 

world in the columns of the New Era, in a tone, the very nature of which 
will explain why the whole subject, instead of commanding the attention of 
the scientific, only incurred unmixed scorn and reprobation from all but its 
immediate friends and projectors. 

Mr. Spear, as will hereafter be seen, had long indulged the idea of em- 
bodying in some tangible form the crude conceptions of certain minds [not 
limited to the earth spheres alone], who have labored to discover and scien- 
tifically control the mystery of the life principle. The medium and his invisi- 
ble counsellors deemed they had made this stupendous discovery, and the 
result upon his own mind and that of his human coadjutors, was a tone of 
jubilant and premature triumph, which even from the first arrayed the great 
majority of calm, dispassionate thinkers against the whole transaction. 

The editor of the New Era, a gentleman apparently in strong sympathy 
with Mr. Spear, announced in the columns of his journal that the association 
of the " Electrizers " in the spheres, were preparing to reveal to mankind 
a "new motive power," "God's last, best gift to man;" a work that was 
"destined to revolutionize the whole world" and "infuse new life and vitality 
into all things, animate and inanimate ; " in a word, the glowing language in 
which the "great discovery" was heralded forth stimulated expectation to 
fever heat, and left little room to doubt that a modern Frankenstein had 
arisen, who, like Mrs. Shelley's famous student, was prepared to show a liv- 
ing organism, created at the hand of its fellow-man, only that the new "mon- 
ster " was a being of metal and wood, instead of flesh and blood like its 
German prototype. 

From time to time, mysterious hints had been dropped in the columns of 
the Neio Era concerning "this thing" which was to "awaken the world to 
wonder," and at length it was announced, in the terms above quoted, that 
"high spiritual intelligences" had, through the organism of Mr. John M. 
Spear, given directions for the construction of a living machine, whose proper- 
ties were summed up, in language the most exalted and triumphant, as "a new 
motor." In connection with the existence of this remarkable work, reports of 
the most singular, and, it must be confessed, revolting nature, were circulated. 
A well-known Boston medium, a lady of amiable character and unsullied 
reputation, was named as the mother of the "new motor," and the most 
shocking, though absurd and impossible stories were bruited about concern- 
ing the practices by which "the life principle" had been infused into its 
organism. 

To the truly scientific, the only question Avas, whether the life principle was 
actually there, not how it got there ; but the prurient mind, stimulated by the 
awkward and most injudicious claims of a human parentage for a material 
machine, indulged in scandalous and even atrocious rumors, whose effect 
have marked the parties concerned so injuriously that it requires the most un- 
prejudiced consideration of the real facts of the case to disrobe it of its dark 
and obnoxious features. As our part is that of a faithful as well as im- 
partial historian, and as we propose neither to set up a defence of, or attack 
upon, the motives of the parties concerned, we shall confine our narrative 
chiefly to the most authentic published statements which we can find on this 
subject, especially to such as represent, with equal candor, opposite views of 
the question. The following paragraphs announcing tiie birth of the " elec- 
trical infant," are taken from the columns of the New Era, and represent the 
editor's methods of gratulation on the great event. 



222 HIS TOR Y OF MODERN' 

"IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. 

"The New Motive Power, or Electrical Motor, otherwise called 'Periet- 
UAL Motion' — The Great Spiritual Revelation of the Age. 

"It is with no ordinary feelings of satisfaction that we now announce to our readers for 
the first time the result of some peculiar labors under spirit direction, in which, in addition to 
those incident upon the editorship of this journal, we have been engaged during the last nine 

months But now, after about nine months of almost incessant labor, 

oftentimes under the greatest difficulties, we are prepared to announce to the world, — 

"First. That spirits have revealed a wholly new motive power, to take the place of all 
other motive powers. 

" Second. That this revelation has been embodied in a model machine by human co- 
operation with the powers above. 

" Third. That results are thus far satisfactory to its warmest friends. 

"THE THING MOVES. 

"We may also say that we have the birth of a new science, a new philosophy, and a new 
life. The time of deliverance has come at last, and henceforward the career of humanity 
is upward and onward — a mighty, a noble, and a Godlike career. All the revelations of 
Spiritualism heretofore, all the control of spirits over mortals, and the instruction and dis- 
cipline they have given us, have only paved the way, as it were, for the advent of a gi^eat 
practical movement, such as the world little dreams of, though it has long deeply 
yearned for it and agonized and groaned away its life because it did not come sooner. And 
this new motive power is to lead the way in the great speedily-coming salvation. It is to 
be the physical Saviour of the race. The history of its inception, its various stages of pro- 
gress, and its completion, will show the world a most beautiful and significant analogy to 

the advent of Jesus as the spiritual Saviour of the race Hence we most 

confidently assert that the advent of the science of all sciences, the philosophy of all philoso- 
phies, and the art of all arts has now fairly commenced. The child is born ; not long hence 
he will go alone. Then he wUl dispute with the doctors in the temples of science and 
then " 

Here even the size of the editor's capitals failed him, language faded into 
insignificance, and nothing could be given further beyond vague hints of what 
was to follow the awful "then" which broke off breathless at the contempla- 
tion of its own inexpressible possibilities. Besides the lectures — two hundred 
in number — through which Mr. Spear had given directions for the construc- 
tion of the " new motor," this indefatigable revelator had projected plans 
for the building of a "circular city" or "perfect earthly home." Houses of 
"symmetry and peace," temples of art, science, and worship, were mapped 
out, and elaborate diagrams planned, all of which were carefully described and 
engraved in the New Era, where these designs were spiritually built, inhab- 
ited, and handed down to such portions of posterity as may yet peruse the 
columns of a paper excellent in intent, faithful and self-sacrificing in execu- 
tion, but, like the minds which dictated it, far too much bent upon the starry 
idealities of a spiritual existence to realize the obstacles of a material one, 
and too much concerned in the possibilities of the future to perceive the im- 
possibilities of the present. 

Immediately after the announcement of the birth of the "electric motor," 
the columns of the JVew Era were filled with descriptions of the mechanism, 
which, it seemed, was designed to correspond to the human organism and per- 
form the functions of a living being. In the midst of the intense excitement 
which the subject created in Boston, and as if to counteract the jubilant tone 
of the New England spiritual organ, a surly growl made itself heard from the 
New York Spiritual Telegraph., which, as representing the dubious frame of 
mind in which the great majority of the spiritualistic ranks regarded the en- 
thusiastic perorations of the New Era, we shall here insert : 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 223 

"BOSTON AND THE EAST. 

"The New Motive Power — Rather Premature. 

" In the Nezu Era of the 12th inst. is announced by Brother Hewitt, the editor, the partial 
success of the new motive power, or electrical motor, otherwise called perpetual motion, 
which is said to have been constructed by the aid of spirits, through Brother John M. Spear 
and others as mediums, and which is to take the place of all other power, at least very 
largely for driving ships, cars, and all the endless whirl of mechanical machineiy. The terms 
of enthusiasm in which Brother Hewitt announces it, might beget the faith in its ultimate 
and complete success. ' The Thing Moves!' Yes : but it should be distmctly stated that this 
refers to some little balls connected with the machine, which for some months have given 
evidence of motion. But the grand revolver — that which answers to the main wheel of a 
factory, and upon which a// the executive power is made dependent — has never moved. It 
has not started one bit. What may take place, we presume not to say. We are ready for 
great improvements in the mechanic arts as well as in theolog}^, and it is reasonable to sup- 
pose that some of them may take place by the revelations of spirits. But, at present, Ave 
believe there is no such thing as can be really called a new motive power, of the character 
described in the New Era. It is there — all but the power ! Even the motion of the main 
revolver is not yet, and it is hardly in reason, we should think, to proclaim the advent of 
the 'physical Saviour of the race.' And yet it is announced in capitals, that ' The advent 
of the science of all sciences — the philosophy of all philosophies, and the art of all arts, has 
now fairly commenced. The child is born — not long hence he will go alone.' That re- 
mains to be proved. In the meantime, we cannot lift the exhortation, ' Be not faithless, 
but believing.' It is sufficient to say that a great deal of money and labor have been ex- 
pended, and the machine, whether it goes or not, exhihits a good deal of philosophical prin- 
ciple and considerable evidence that spirits have had something to do with it. We believe 
the earthly parties engaged in it could not have thought of such a tliuig. It is sincerely to 
be hoped that its main Thing w///move, and move to some purpose." 

After an immense amount of curiosity, doubt, hope, fear, triumph, and edi- 
torial sparring, and whilst very little of the real character of the subject of all 
this agitation was known, a renewal of hostilities was provoked upon more 
assured ground, after the following account of the new motor machine had 
been extensively circulated through the columns of the spiritual press, from 
the pen of Andrew Jackson Davis. We shall only quote such passages as 
tend to throw light upon this mysterious subject, and at the same time prove 
the estimation in which the amiable writer held the much-abused authors of 
the strange machine. 

"THE NEW MOTIVE POWER— A. J. DAVIS AT HIGH-ROCK COTTAGE. — TELEGRAPH 

PAPERS. 

"Boston, June i, 1S54. 
*'7b the Editors of the Telegraph : 

" Yesterday I visited High-Rock Tower The object of my %asit was 

to investigate the ' new motive power,' as developed through the mediumship of Jolm. M. 
Spear, assisted by the willing heart and hands of S. Crosby Hewitt,* who, I understand, is 
not a practical medium, but rather a friend and doer of wliatsoever the former is impressed 
to dictate, especially in reference to the 'new motor,' which is now denominated 'the 
great spriritual revelation of the age.' 

"Many persons of most excellent and truth-loving attributes of mind really accept, this 
mechanism as the best, dearest gift of God to mankind 

" They invest the very materialism of the mechanism with principles of interpretation 
which give out an emanation of religious feeling altogether new in the development of 
scientific truth. Each wire is precious, sacred, as a spiritual verse. Each plate of zinc 
and copper is clothed with S}'mbolLzed meanings, corresponding throughout with the prin- 
ciples and parts involved in the living human organism. The philosophy given through Mr. 
Spear, upon which the mechanism is predicated, is this : 

" ' First. That there is a universal electricity. 

" ' Second. That this electricity has never been naturally incorporated with mineral and 
other forms of matter. 

* The editor of the Ne-w Era. 



224 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" ' Third. That the human organism is the most superior, natural, efficient type of mech- 
anism Ivnown on the earth. 

" * Fourtli. That all merely scientific developments of electricity as a motive power are 
superficial, and therefore useless or impracticable. 

" 'Fifth. That the construction of a mechanism on the laws of man's material physiol- 
ogy, and fed by atmospheric electricity obtained by absorption and condensation, and not 
by friction or galvanic action, will constitute a new revelation of scientific and spiritual 
truths, because the plan is wholly dissimilar to every human use of electricity.' 

" With some of these positions, if not with all, the intelligent, unprejudiced mind will 
*agi"ee. These propositions, with numerous collateral affirmations, characterize the scientific 
discourses of the medium, Mr. Spear. And whoever has come into friendly relations with 
this man needs no assurance from me that he is intellectually disqualified for the develop- 
ment of absolute science He is naturally a religious, spiritually-minded, 

plain, direct, believing, confiding, simple, honest, philanthropic man, doing good with all 
his guileless heart, and standing fearlessly out in unpopular reforms ; all this, and more, 
even at the risk of incurring the displeasure of helping friends, and bringing himself and 
family to the very brink of destitution. 

" His religious nature and former ministerial profession color all his discourses; they 
therefore look spiritual and hierophantic. His extremely beautiful simplicity, his teachable 
and therefore receptive nature, without the exercise of a vigilant reason and practical 
estimation of psychological laws, subject him to the terrible misfortune of being easily 
imposed upon by his own impulses, his own desires and secret tendencies, mistaking them 
at least two-thirds of the time for 'impressions' from higher intelligences. 

" No one can for a moment believe but that this medium, John M. Spear, is phrenologi- 
cally incapable of the original propositions that rest at the basis of this mechanism. But 
with all the secondary propositions which legitimately grow out of the primaiy ones, I 
think no one can fail to perceive a mingling of the mental peculiarities of the medium. 
Consequently, on this head, I have come to these conclusions : 

"First. That the beginnings of these scientific discourses, if they may be so styled, were 
imparted to the mind of the medium from the world of spirits. 

"Second. That then his own mind, receiving, each time he- enters the state, the essence 
of the new thoughts and a sort of momentum, continues the sayings in a style and spirit 
corresponding to the inceptive impressions 

"A few months ago, I visited this peculiar construction, and then, by observing the 
progress made, the principles involved, I could not but encourage the addition of at least 
another part, in order, if possible, to procure the best results. And it was, as I have said, 
with the desire to obtain the realities, the merits and demerits, of this new motive power, 
that I made this last visit. And having received into my mind what I conceive to be satis- 
factory ccuiclusions, I hereby proceed to give them public utterance, being replies to ques- 
tions repeatedly put to me respecting it : 

" First. That the various parts of this mechanism, both the wood work and the metallic, 
are extremely accurate, and so mathematically arranged with reference to some ulterior 
result or effect, that no one can fail to see the design of some intelligence superior in 
mechanical contrivance to these faculties in the head of John M. Spear. 

"Second. The medium, in giving directions for this and that part to be added, never 
used 'rule and compass,' as would seem to have been the case, because the parts are precise 
as to measurement, and, according to his directions, artistically put together. 

"Third. Theoretically, the laws of positive and negative electricity are strictly fol- 
lowed. 

"Fourth. The mechanism is, in my estimation, a demonstration that spirits have com- 
municated to mankind. I think we can find nowhere any better evidence. 

" These are the merits of the matter ; on the other hand, the demerits are : 

" First. That the progressive construction, the private history, so to speak, of this mech- 
anism, the manner pursued, by which, from time to time, one part has been added after and 
to another, proves the whole work to be essentially experimental, conducted very honestly, 
and at Friend Spear's expense, by several persons in the other world, v/ho, doubtless, have 
the correct philosophy of the development of the new motive power, but v.'ho are deficient 
in the practical knowledge of the means to consummate its actualization. 

" Second. Another demerit is, that although the positive and negative, the male and 
female, laws of nature are very truthfully diviilged and prescribed, theoretically, as the 
only 'rule of faith and practice' in the elaboration of this mechanism, yet, practically, as 
every student of nature will perceive, the adjustment of the poles, magnets, zinc, and cop- 
per plates, etc., are by no means in physical harmony with these laws. 

" Tliii-d, Another demerit is, that the 'motion' said to have appeared iii the small ex« 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 225 

tremities or pulses of the mechanism was merel}' phenomenal and temporary, owing, simply, 
to the centrifugal escape of electricity from the rapidly-oxidizing surfaces. 

" Fourth. And there has been an attempt to infuse human vitality into the mineral sub- 
stances, on the religious theory of the 'miraculous conception,' for which, however, the 
spirits have divulged what is considered a natural explanation. 

" Fifth. Another demerit is, that, supposing the maximum 'motion ' obtained, even then 
— no matter how gigantic in size the mechanism might be — ^it would not move any addi- 
tional weight, nor drive the wheels of a carriage or a mill. 

"Sixth. It has already cost nearly two thousand dollars, occupying the time and atten- 
tion, and at times severely trying the faith of JNIessrs. Spear and Hewitt, as well as others, 
^^■llo might have done more good in many other ways, more to the gi-atihcation of their 
fellow-men 

"In another department of this strange category of psychological and spiritual develop- 
ments there is an experience — a very peculiar and delicate experience — to which I am now 
obliged to refer. 

"I speak of Mrs. , of Boston, whose recent connection with this mechanism has 

added fresh interest, not to say additional perplexity, to it. I have conversed with her. I 
have examined her condition, and have traced, at least to my own satisfaction, the causes 
of her apparently extraordinary experience. This experience, according to a report that 
has gone abroad, is this : 

"That by means of a spiritual overshadowing, a la Virgui Mary, the maternal functions 
were brought into active operation; a few of the usual physiological symptoms followed; 
the crisis arrived ; and being in presence of the mechanism, the first living motion was 
communicated to it ; in other words, that then the new motive power was born, which was 
therefore regarded as 'heaven's best, last gift to man.' 

"In regard to Mrs. , I obseiwed that she and her quiet and beautiful psychological 

experiences have been sadl)' misunderstood and exaggerated. In the second place, I observed 
that no one, except with sensibilities truly delicate and tender, can appreciate her state 
enough to do her experience even common justice. In considering her condition, I came 
to three conclusions : 

"First. That her nature is sufficiently impressible to render her mind extremely psycho- 
logical — by which I mean, that she is organically susceptible to the influence of minds both 
in and out of the body. 

" Second. That her former religious experience has been deep — has left many of its sjTn- 
bols [I mean the forms of her early religious ideas] fixed upon her understanding — upon her 
affections not less, although the old ideas themselves have perhaps permanently departed, 
giving place to newer and higher conceptions of life and immortality. 

" By considering well these primary facts m her condition, you will readily perceive that 
Mrs. could not only receive the sphere of the impressions emanating from and actuat- 
ing Friend Spear, but, m addition to this, that her own sensitive yet resolute spirit, operating 
in conjunction with congenial spirits actuating his, would easily produce the physiological 
effects which have really occurred. You will please understand me, Mr. Editor, when I 
affirm that the maternal functions were simply excited — not to perform any natural office, 
but merely, through the nervous forces, to impart the ordinary sensations of maternity. 
The s}^nptoms were very good imitations and were psychologically produced. 

" In regard to the use of the mechanism, let me add, that if the object to be gained is a 
demonstration of the fact of spiritual intercourse, then, in my mind, they have accomplished 
that object, by presenting a construction superior to the mechanical information of the me- 
dium. But if tlie object is to prove that spirits [who were once men] can overstep the 
boundaries of human intuition and reason, and give us light which we cannot obtain by the 
proper means and extent of investigation, then, in my mind, they can never more success- 
fully discover their mistake and its impossibility. Spirits can prove the immortality of the 
human soul — nothing else Math certainty. When disappointecl, some mediums say, 'These 
are evil spirits.' Others, when provoked with mistakes and failures, say, 'There, I will 
give the whole thing up as a humbug.' Now, Mr. Editor, I know that such mediums are 
not philosophical 

"It is with deep and deepening sorrow, Mr. Editor, that I recognize a species of unrea- 
soning faith — I may say, a frightful and pernicious tendency to fanaticism, among the true 
and faithful and teachable friends of spiritual intercourse. There are getting to be multi- 
tudes of Spiritualists. When shall we look for a beautiful crop of harmonial philosophers ? 
If the spirits have led you into trouble [simply by their own ignorance of mundane forces 
and circumstances], you ask, 'Wliat shall we say? What shaUwedo?' I reply, 'Why 
not step when and where you see the path ? ' If spirits tell you to do this or that, my advice 

15 



2 26 HISTORY OF MODERN 

is, follow them only when j^oii can give the world a philosophical reason for the faith yciu 
possess. Or, if you can socially and pecuniardy afford it, give the spirits a fair chance, in 
order to test their skill and wisdom. But never allow yourself to pay too high for a little 
good, practical common sense. I say this because many persons give much time and 
money to learn a lesson %vhich a well-balanced mind would impart for the asking. . . . 
. . . If I were to leave the world this hour, never more to speak or write to my fellow- 
men. I should say to each, ' Be yourself; follow the truth you see ; do not faint or be dis- 
couraged in well-doing, though your ways may not be as the methods of 

" * Your spirit brother, 

"'Andrew Jackson Davis.'" 

The publication of this letter called forth, as may be supposed, much ar- 
gument and mutual recrimination from both the partisans and opponents of 
the "new motor." Mr. S. C. Hewitt defended his position and sustained 
the faith of the adherents with marked ability. A still more timely article 
appeared from the pen of an anonymous writer, who was understood to be 
the talented and highly-esteemed husband of the lady who has been referred 

to as Mrs. , of Boston. Calmly stripping from the story the gross and 

impure mask of absurdity and shocking impossibility which the prurient fancy 
of common report had woven around it, this writer proceeded to show that 
Mrs. had been made the subject of a set of most remarkable psycho- 
logical experiences and prophetic visions, at or about the same time as Mr. 
Spear was engaged in directing the construction of the machinery at High 
Rock ; that neither of these parties seemed to have the least intimation of 
any relation existing, or designed to exist between their several experiences, 
until a certain period arrived, when Mr. Spear was instructed to summon the 
lady to visit the machine. On this occasion a crisis was said to have been 
reached, in which all parties concerned recognized their correlation to each 
other and the singular piece of mechanism. To the latter, it was aflimed, an 
actual living principle ^■djs, then communicated, and subsequently maintained, 
through certain mediumistic processes, until the machine, in virtue of some 
electric pulsations which appeared in a part of its organism, was pronounced 
by its friends to have become "a thing of life." 

Divested of the repulsive features which ignorance and prejudice throw 
around it, there was, and ever will remain, something singularly mysterious 
and suggestive in the dual experiences of persons whose psychological action, 
from whatever cause it originated, was powerful enough to induce physiologi- 
cal results of a marked and indisputable nature. From whence originated 
these inexplicable manifestations ? and what class of mind, embodied or disem- 
bodied, could have projected experiments demonstrating, on the one hand, so 
much intelligence and mechanical skill, and, on the other, such a total lack of 
adaptation in the means employed as to convert the whole transaction into a 
deplorable failure, will in all probability forever remain a mystery. It is 
enough for our present purpose, that we represent fairly the whole transaction ; 
and as a large majority of the Spiritualists indignantly protested against asso- 
ciating the history of the "new motor" with themselves or their cause, we 
shall insert some extracts from the pen of another correspondent, who, whilst 
claiming to belong to the ranks of Spiritualism, obviously desires to disclaim 
the application of any side issues to his belief. The letter from which the 
following quotations are taken is written by a well-known and respected 
Spirituahst of Massachusetts, Mr. J. H. Robinson ; and though he does not 
wield quite as gentle a pen as the " harmonial philosopher," A. J. Davis, 
the plain homely truths he writes represent such a large majority of the 
opinions Avhich prevailed concerning the " electric child," that it is but justice 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 227 

to give them a place in this history. In the Sj^iritual Telegraph of June, 
1854, Mr. Robinson says : 

"Boston, Jime i^, 1854. 

" Mr. Editor, — It is probably true that every individual owes some duty to his fellow- 
beings ; and, impelled by a sense of such obligation, I solicit the use of your columns through 
which to express my honest convictions upon a subject of much interest. It is generally 
known that I believe in the possibility of intelligible communications with those who have 
been the subjects of physical death. The simple declaration of such a belief is equivalent, 
in the estimation of two-thirds of the community, to an admission of a greater portion of 
thos« absurdities and fallacies, of daily occurrence imder the broad and indefinite name of 
' Spiritualism,' — a concession which I am by no means willing to make 

" There is a pseudo-Spiritualism, much over-grown by over-feeding, who has got on his 
'seven-leagued' fanatical boots and goes fast for one who caiTies weight — of absurdity. 
But his course is erratic : first this way and then that, no fixed object in view ; feeds on 
excitement and thirsts for wonders. I believe that seventy-five per cent, of \\\q. prevailing 
Spiritualism is spurious or useless, or both. Many well-meaning persons are expecting 
mighty revolutions, sudden changes in governments, and a speedy overthrow of the present 
order of things. We have ' Governmentizers, Electrizers, Educationizers,' and all kind of 
izers you can mention, which do not affect the great questions of the age in the smallest 
possible degree. They are simple follies, which will die out, leaving only regretful remem- 
brances behind, coupled with some wonder that such things should have been 

"Common magnetic phenomena are often mistaken for spiritual exhibitions, and I suspect 
that the inhabitants of the next sphere'are unjustly held responsible for much inane drivelling, 
as incomprehensible to them as to us. 

"You have heard of the 'new motor,' so styled by its friends. Having some knowl- 
edge of this wonderful 'infant,' I am constrained to say that it lives, moves, and has its 
being only in the imagination. There is no such thing as an electrical motor in existence. 
A motor is a moving power ; but no man whose sympathies are not lai-gely enlisted, and 
whose judgment is nor to some extent warped, can claim for that curious combination of 
metals any such characteristic. The part of the machine intended for the application of 
power has not performed a single revolution ; the mere ' throbbing ' of a few balls sus- 
pended by wires is no marvel at all, especially where there are electrical currents ; but it is 
a marvel that such incidental, nay, inevitable, oscillations should be hailed as a motive power 
— ■ ' the physical Saviour of the race, bearing a beautiful and significant analogy to the advent 
of Jesus ! ' 

"This is much to say of an agglomeration of zinc, steel, and copper, possessing no prac- 
tical value. It is said to correspond to the human body — has a brain, heart, lungs, etc. ; 
but such analogies are solely factitious and amount to nothing, because there can be no 
just comparison between inert matter and the living human organism. 

"I regret that this 'new motive power' — which cannot turn a coffee-mill — should 
have been compared to one whose whole life was severely practical. It is vain to talk of 
conception, gestation, the birth of motion, lactation, etc. ; they are at best sublime. follies, 
unworthy serious consideration. 

"It may be said, perhaps, that I know but little of the history of this 'new Messiah.' 
I am conversant with enough of its history to regret its premature announcement as a 
'motor.' .... 

"If spirits have had anything to do with it, they are obviously fanatical, experimenting 
ones, devoid of that wisdom which ought to characterize the minds they profess to repre- 
sent, and without that elevation of thought that lends dignity to the wise and good of every 
sphere. So far as 'science' is concerned, the results do not bear evidence to any marked 
display of that acquirement. 

' ' Let the machine stand at High Rock as a lasting evidence of human credulity ; and let 
no one hereafter surrender his judgment to the dictation of beings, visible or invisible, with- 
out seeing perfectl)^ step by step, the practical application of a reasonable, comprehensible 
principle. Jesus of Nazareth has not yet made his second advent in zinc and copper at 
Lynn, nor do I ever expect to recognize him in such ' questionable form.' 

"I believe in the presence and assistance of invisible guardians; but there is a limit to 
my belief: I cannot accredit everything that comes in the garb of 'Spiritualism.' 

" Yours for the truth, J. H. Robinson." 

There is but one more act which we feel called upon to record in this re- 
markable drama, and that we are unwilling to present in the scathing and 



228 HISTORY OF MODERN 

vituperative tone in which we find it mentioned in most of the periodicals of 
the time, whether spiritual or secular, save in one instance ; and as that 
contains the historical portion of the record, divested of the bitterness which 
partisan feeling has infused into other accounts, we trust we shall be excused 
for citing Mr. Spear's own statement, published in the New Era, of the final 
destruction of the hapless "new motor" machine at the hands of an infuri- 
ated and insensate mob, who, under the impulse of very angry and, in some 
respects, wholly delusive feelings, broke in upon the cradle slumbers of the 
wonderful infant and ruthlessly tore it to pieces. 

The wanton destruction of property, the outrageous abuse of the liberty 
of the individual, and the superstitious folly which prompted the attack, can- 
not be sufticiently deprecated ; the only excuse that could be urged in ex- 
tenuation of such a deed is the publicity as well as perversion of the private 
portion of the history, already hinted at, as including the experiences of the 

Mrs. , to whom frequent reference has been made. Those who best 

know this person and her peculiar temperament and disposition, will acquit 
her of aught that could merit censure or provoke the insulting and ribald re- 
marks that Avere levelled against her. That peculiar and ill-understood psy- 
chological experiences prompted her to the incomprehensible part she seems 
to have played in this singular drama, is the utmost that any one can allege with 
justice. Beyond this, what mortal is, in his own life and conduct, unimpeach- 
able enough to decide upon the secret and unexplained acts of another ? 
Or what mind is sufficiently intuitive to be able to understand, much less to 
analyze and judge of those mysterious springs of action that are hidden in 
the mystic recesses of a sensitive human soul, and have only been interpreted 
on the external, by the harsh tongue of rumor. 

And yet, on this baseless and unintelligible ground, a rude mob, stimulated 
by the coarse and ribald remarks of the public journals, j^ersuaded themselves 
they were doing good service to the cause of religion and morals by tearing 
a harmless piece of mechanism apart, and uttering threats of similar treat- 
ment against the obnoxious parties who had most injudiciously set up, or at 
least sanctioned, the monstrous claim of its human parentage ! 

Unable, as we have above stated, to find any published report of this 
transaction free from the bitter and vituperative spirit of partisanship, we 
shall close our narrative by giving the much-abused inventor the benefit of 
his own statement respecting the destruction of his property, and we do this 
the more cheerfully as the following letter is one of the most consistent and 
rational documents that we can find in print over the signature of John jNI. 
Spear. 

"THE ELECTRIC MOTOR MOBBED. 

" Messrs. Editors, — From the hour when it became publicly known that the Associa- 
tion of Electrizers had undertalcen to introduce to the inhabitants of this earth a new motive 
power, the press and the pulpit have assailed, ridiculed, and misrepresented it, until a public 
sentiment has been generated which encouraged the mob to assail and destroy it. 

"It was moved, as you know, to Randolph, New York, that it might have the advan- 
tage of that lofty electrical position. A temporary building was erected to shelter it. 
Into that, under cover of the night, the mob entered, tore out the heart of the mechanism, 
trampled it beneath their feet, and scattered it to the four winds. 

"I know that the friends who were engaged in constructing this mechanism, and those 
who cheerfully gave of their means to promote the work, will mourn that the world has not 
.yet arrived at a condition when it could welcome a philanthropic effort of this kind; but 
thus it is. It did not wish the effort to succeed, and it determined it should not. 

"The course pursued by the avowed enemies of Spiritualism, and also by some of its 
professed friends, in relation to this effort, has caused me much pain and not a little sur- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 229 

pnss. From tlis hour that I became fully convmced that a new, truthful, and direct com- 
munication was opened between the earth-life and the spirit-world, I determined to give 
my time, my strength, my reputation, my all, to a work which I deemed so important. 
As I had in former years devoted myself to the elevation of the inebriate, to the promotior 
of peace, to the emancipation of the slave, and to the aid of the destitute prisoner, so I 
resolved to aid in this new movement, the grandest and the most comprehensive that has 
ever been commenced. 

" Sometimes when I have been made acquainted with the comprehensive views and the 
philanthropic plans which persons in the more perfected conditions desire to unfold, I have 
thought that perhaps they were somewhat too sanguine ; that the hour had not yet come 
when the world could receive them, and that on that account they might fail of accom- 
plishing all the good they wished to do ; but I have desired to cheerfully co-operate with 
them, and to give them a fair chance to try. 

"From the hour that the Electrizers expressed a desire to unfold to the inhabitants of 
this earth more perfectfy a knowledge of electrical, magnetic, and ethereal laws, that a 
new motive power might be exhibited, I said to them, ' Friends, my time, my strength, my 
means, my influence, to aid a work so important and so beneficent, are at your disposal.' 
Aided by several philanthropic and highly-intelligent gentlemen, to whom their plan was 
unfolded and the model exhibited, labors were commenced, some two hundred highly scien- 
tific and very philosophic discourses were communicated ; and at precisely the time desig- 
nated, and at the point expected, motion appeared corresponding to embryotic life. 

"But the mob has done its work. The little mechanism has been assailed, torn asunder, 
and trampled beneath the feet of man. But if this effort to use electricity as a motive 
power fails at this time, I am persuaded that in the coming future, when man becomes 
more intelligent and more fully unfolded, he will be able to command this element with 
greater ease and with more economy than he now does steam. Thank God, the principles 
which have been presented, and the philosophy which has been communicated, are beyond 
the reach of the mob, and can not be harmed by the slanders of the pulpit or the misrep- 
resentations of the press ! 

" ' Truth crushed to earth, shall rise again : 
The eternal years of God are hers.' 

"Garrison has been mobbed, Birney's press was thrown into the river, Lovejoy was mur- 
dered ; yet anti-slavery still lives, and the oppressed shall yet be free. So shall it ever be 
with all truths which have been communicated toman. They are immortal andean not 

be destroyed. 

" Yours, for the aid of the common humanity, 

"John M. Spear," 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE KIANTONE MOVEMENT. 

"To-day abhorred, to-morrow adored — 
So round and round we run ; 
And ever the truth comes uppermost, 
And ever is justice done." 

KiANTONE — The Magnetic Spring — The New Communists — "The Sacred 

Order of Unionists." 

Although the personal history of Mr. John M. Spear, like that of most other 
individuals who have taken a prominent part in Spiritualism, includes the 
progress of the cause itself, press of matter in other directions prevents our 
entering further into the details of his remarkable mediumistic career, save to 
give a brief notice of a movement which has very generally, but somewhat 
invidiously, been identified with his name alone. The "Kiantone move- 
ment," as the subject of our present narrative is usually termed, includes the 
experiences of many individuals beside Mr. Spear ; and though it has obtained 



230 HISTORY OF modern' 

an unenviable distinction for the attempt on the part of its participators to 
establish a highly unpopular system of communism, it has also been remark- 
able for some phenomenal features of interest, to which we shall devote a 
few pages of impartial notice. 

It was generally believed by the early settlers of Chautauque Count}-, New 
York, that salt existed in great abundance in the valley of the Connewango 
or Kiantone, and that this and other mineral treasures had been discovered 
by the aboriginal Indians, who sedulously concealed the knowledge from the 
whites. The final discovery of mineral waters in this region is briefly de- 
tailed in the following extracts from a letter addressed to Dr. Graj^ of 
New York, by Dr. Greaves, of Milwaukee. This gentleman was requested 
to make a visit to Kiantone for the purpose of testing the waters, and the 
result of his investigations v/ill be found in the columns of the Spiritual Tele- 
graph of 1853 : — 

" Milwaukee, yawz^flry 24, 1853. 

"J. F. Gray, M.D.: — Dear Sir, — I avail myself of the present opportunity to 
fulfil a promise I made you, while sojourning in New York, to give you the result of my 
observations and personal inquiries in relation to the remarkable mineral spring alleged to 
have been discovered, near Carroll, Chautauque County, New York, by spirit agency. 

"Having listened to the account given by our friend, Sheldon, when he brought the 
water to New York for analyzation, I resolved to turn aside from my homeward journey, 
and examine the whole matter for myself. 

"Fortunately I found the owner of the Spring at Carroll, who took me immediately to 
his house, which is located about half a mile over the line in Pennsylvania. His name is 
John Chase. From early youth he has been a resident of that region, pursuing his trade 
as a blacksmith, mitil three or four years since, when he removed to the farm on which he 
now resides 

" About fifteen years ago, while Mr. Chase was residing at Carroll, following his trade, 
his wife made a visit to a neighboring town, where there was a 'fortune teller' who was 
considered an ' oracle ' by those who consulted her. Mrs. Chase, from mere curiosity, 
visited her, and during the consultation she was informed that since she had left home her 
husband had bought a farm ; that on it was a great treasure, and that he must never part 
with it. Mrs. Chase ridiculed the idea, expressing her unbelief in the strongest terms, and 
gave as a reason that they were so poor her husband had no means of paying for one. When 
she arrived home she immediately asked her husband if he had bought a farm. Pie replied 
that he had, but said no one knew it except himself, the seller, and a witness, and he wished 
to know how she had heard of it. She informed him of the interview with the fortune 

teller Having bought the tract for the purpose of using a small water 

power on it for propelling machinery for the manufacture of wagons in company with 
another individual, and that project having failed, Mr. Chase repeatedly offered the tract 
for sale, placing no confidence in the sayings of the seeress, and not being able to pay for it. 
He could get no offer, and was obliged to keep it until about four years ago, when he 
bbught forty acres adjoining, which came to a liighway, to enable him to sell the whole 
tract more readily. 

" Still he got no ofl'ers, when, about three years ago, William Brittingham, who was a 
magnetizer in the neighborhood, learned through a clairvoyant that there was a gixat trea- 
sure on John Chase's farm, and besides, a valuable salt spring, and that he must not sell it. 
This was subsequently confirmed through other mediums and clairvoyants, until Cliase was 
constrained to act in the matter, and resolved to follow directions and dig for the reported 
treasure. 

"Accordingly, he took a good clairvoyant on to the gi'ound some time last spring, who 
located the precise spot, where they afterwards dug with signal success. 

" Subsequent trials with other mediums corroborated the statement of the first clairvoy- 
ant. On tlie strength of the above, he bargained with Mr. Brittmgham to dig the pit, for 
a certain interest in the investment, and early last summer the work was commenced. They 
v/ere directed to sink a pit, then to bore to a certain specified depth, v/hen they would come 
to the spring. The distances they were directed to dig and to bore corresponded exactly 

with the account of the digging At this point they commenced boring 

in the same soil for ten feet further, and struck the rock, which was very hard for the dis- 
tance of six inches, when it became porous, and through it the water begaii to flow. At 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 23 1 

the depth of three feet they again struck the hard portion, and ceased boring. Not finding 
it in sufficient quantities, they were directed by the spirits to bore in the centre of the pit, 
which they did, and struck a full supply, flowing at the rate of about five hundred gallons 
per hour. They were then directed to commence boring on the north side of the pit, and 
they would strike the salt water. After boring tlirough the liard clay and gravel they struck 
the rock — red sandstone — into which they bored to the depth of four or five feet, and 
came to strong salt water, flowing at the rate of about seven hundred and fifty gallons per 
hour, which they were directed to plug up ; they did so, but not domg it eft'ectually, the 
plug escaped during their absence, and the water filled the whole pit and flowed over the 
sur.f^ace of the ground. With much labor for five days, they succeeded in emptying the pit 
and stop)3ing the flow. They were then directed to insert a tube in the hole bored in the 
centre of the pit, reaching to the siu-face of the gi'ound, which they did, when the water 
flowed to the height of twelve feet above the surface of the earth. The water obtained 
from this spring flows turbid all of the time, containing a large amount of sediment of 
earthy matter, of an unctuous character to the touch, emitting a peculiar odor, and the 
taste strongly alkaline. Experiments were made by mixing the water with flour, which 
showed its alkaline properties by raising bread and biscuit very light. You have, doubtless, 
ere this received from Chilton the chemical analysis, but as I have heard nothing from that 
source, I am unable to say what are its chemical constituents. 

*' The work was completed about the first of September last, when they were directed to 
commence testing, under spirit direction, the efficacy of the water in the cure of diseases. 
I will not detail to you the cases treated, but simply enumerate a few of the diseases in 
which, according to the testimony of numbers in that vicinity, the use of the water had 
been effectual. Various kinds of fevers, dyspepsia, jjneumonia, rheumatism, inflammations 
of the throat, bums and scalds, erysipelas, scarlatina, etc. The details as given to me are 
exceedingly interesting and almost incredible; and I think the whole matter is worth a 
thoroug'.i investigation. It is directed to be used in various ways. The water from the 
spring is used internally and by bathing. 

"An ointment is also made for external application for all inflammations, and the results 
of its use are truly remarkable. 

" Two well-marked cases of felon yielded in a few hours to the application of the oint- 
ment. In one case, where the lady had not slept for two nights preceding, and was suffering 
so severely that she could hardly keep from gi^oaning in my presence, the pain left in half 
an hour ; in twelve hours the tumefaction had almost disappeared, and she is now well, 
without any aggravation. The other case was characterized by a gradual subsidence of 
the suffering in the course of sLx hours, together with the swelling, and the result was a final 
and complete ciire. . . . Similar results have followed m a severe case of croup, and in 
obstinate cough 

" In conclusion I would say that the main facts above narrated are fully corroborated by 
friend and foe in that vicinity. Indeed, there is no doubt left upon the minds of any in 
that neighborhood who have kno^\^l anything on the subject, that the discovery was made 
under the circumstances narrated above. 

"The parties concerned have been subjected to an amount of obloquy and ridicule truly 
disgi-aceful, and it is wonderful that their moral courage should have so long sustained 

them under such trials 

" Yours truly, 

"James P. Greaves." 

Immediately after this discover}'' the mediums to whom the waters of the 
spring were sent, or those who chanced to visit the place, became enthusi- 
astic about its curative properties and the valuable results which were 
to accrue to mankind from its use. 

In 1S53, a gentleman who had become much interested in the spring, and 
sanguine concerning the effects of its discovery, sent a portion of the sedi- 
ment obtained from the ^^'ater to Mr. John AI. Spear for psychometrical exam- 
ination. 

Mr. Spear's report confirmed the testimony of other clairvoyants, but 
the effect produced upon his own mind was so great as to induce him, in 
company with several of his friends, or, we might almost say, followers, since 
they were persons especially in sjoiipathy with his peculiar opinions, to visit 
the spring for the purpose of establishing in its vicinage a community whose 
views would be in hamionious relations with each other. 



232 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Impressed with the perfect fitness of the place for the designs they con 
templated, Mr. Spear and his friends entered into an agreement with Messrs 
Chase and Brittingham to pursue their explorations, settle upon certain por- 
tions of the land, and possess themselves of an appropriate share of the 
wealth they expected to realize ; but Avhen the astounded proprietors of the 
district heard of the magnificent prospective views mapped out by the enthu- 
siastic clairvoyants, they began to believe that the untold mines of wealth 
wdiich their new neighbors designed to realize were just as well reserved in 
their own hands; hence they curtly "backed out" of the arrangement, and 
left the baffled seers to pursue their researches elsewhere. 

Besides Mr. Spear and Dr. Abel Underbill, himself a most excellent clair- 
voyant, there were several other mediums in the spiritualistic party. Among 
these were seers who no sooner found themselves shut off from the Chase 
and Brittingham estate than they at once perceived torrents, floods, and 
even oceans of underground wealth in other directions. 

The whole character of the district testifies to the abundance of mineral 
wealth in the form of springs and subterranean deposits, with which the earth 
there is teeming ; hence it only required the exercise of the natural eye to 
perceive the possibilities with which the region abounded, and the uses to 
which it could be turned under judicious management. 

At the suggestion of Dr. Underhill, it was agreed to purchase a farm on 
land adjoining the Chase property, where it was affirmed that a spring known 
as "the great deer lick "would be found to possess all the valuable qualities 
attributed to the waters already becoming so renowned. Notwithstanding 
the fact that the resources of the place w^ere in reality as great as the enthu- 
siasm of the clairvoyants alleged them to be, several circumstances combined 
to retard the useful developments which were so confidently anticipated from 
its possession. Among these was lack of the capital necessary to pursue the 
explorations, or work the ground to utilitarian purposes. A still greater ob- 
stacle was the determined hostility of Mr. Chase to the new settlers, and the 
culminating cause of grief arose from internal discord amongst themselves, 
paral3^zing their associative efforts, netitralizing their attempts at harn:ionious 
combination, and finally giving rise to current reports whose very scandalous 
nature it is unnecessary to repeat, except to notice that they seemed to jus- 
tify the determinaton of Messrs. Chase and Brittingham to oppose the estab- 
lishment of the contemplated little "kingdom of heaven" on their land. 

In fact it has become a matter of too much public notoriety to veil or gloss 
over, that some of the inspired party who had assembled at Kiantone 
Springs, claimed to be the organs or human mouthpieces not only for spirits 
of an adventurous and scientific turn of mind, but also for others who pro- 
posed to establish a new social order upon earth, In which the marriage obli- 
gations were not treated with any great amount of reverence or conventional 
respect. 

As may be anticipated, the enunciation of these startling propositions 
was received with as much abhorrence by the opposition as they were stoutly 
maintained by their advocates. Both parties were in sincere earnest, and 
here justice, no less to individuals than to the great body of Spiritualists In 
general, compels us to offer a few remarks on a controversy which, properly 
speaking, has no reference whatever to Spiritualism ; nevertheless the un- 
founded affirmations of certain Spiritualists, and the malevolence of those 
who have made their views a subject of scandal and reproach to the entire 
body of believers, render it necessary that we should take the notorious 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 233 

experiences of Kiantone as an illustration of the position which we insist 
upon our right to claim for Spiritualism, 

It is a well-known fact, that long before the advent of modern Spiritualism, 
many communities existed in America, the members of which maintained 
opinions on the marriage question Avhich procured for them the title of " Free 
■Lovers." 

Many individuals of high social standing, talent, and influence in American 
society professed opinions of a similar character, without, however, enrolling 
themselves as members of a separated community ; in fact, the doctrine of 
"free love" in all its ramifications permeated the countr}^, even to the point 
of world-wide notoriety, years before the advent of the Rochester knockings. 

That the believers in these doctrines sustained themselves on some points 
which they conceived to be "right," none who have ever observed the sacri- 
fices they made for opinion's sake, can question. Odious as their views are 
in the eyes of a moral and orderly community, they were just as ready to 
endure social martyrdom in their defence as if they had been advocating the 
noblest truths and highest degree of purity ; hence none can refuse to accord 
to them the merit of sincerity and a realizing sense of some worth in their indi- 
vidual opinions, however abhorrent these may have been to the good sense 
and pure feeling of their opponents. 

Now, when it is remembered that a belief in spirit communion may be and 
most generally is, based upon the evidence of sensuous facts, and that its 
intellectual acceptance is just as rational to the robber and murderer as to the 
saint and sage, it can be no matter of surprise that persons who profess the 
broadest license on the marriage question should have accepted the demon- 
strations of spirit communion as well as those who believed in the strictest . 
views of the conjugal relation, or even advocated the asceticism of celibacy. 
Still the mere fact that certain individuals who professed "free love" doctrines 
became convinced of the truths of spirit communion was quite sufficient, when 
all other causes of offence failed, to give a handle for antagonism to fasten this 
obnoxious and totally irrelevant opinion upon the entire body of Spiritualists, 
until malice, grown desperate for lack of more available weapons, continued 
to aim the shaft of " free love " against Spiritualism, and labor to make the 
two words appear to be of synonymous meaning. 

An effort so palpably false and shallow must have failed as signally as all 
other antagonistic warfare has done, had not a few individuals, who desired to 
make the broad white standard of Spiritualism float over all the little hobbies 
which they thought proper to harness to its triumphant car, given out as 
veritable communications from "archangelic spheres," '■'•spirit messages,'^ 
endorsing, nay, enjoining, the practices and doctrines of "free love." The 
world has forgotten, in its eagerness to find real matter for offence against 
Spiritualism, that the most celebrated as well as the earliest professors of spir- 
itual gifts upon the American continent have been Mormons and Shakers, the 
antipodal points from which "Free Love" starts and departs. It would have 
been as easy to prove that all the ghastly lists of crime that disgrace our daily 
pohce reports are chargeable upon Christianity, as to show that "free love" 
had anything to do with Spiritualism, had not the presumption of certain Spir- 
itualists chosen to father their practices in this respect upon the authority 
of "the spirits." 

It is evident that if Joseph Smith's spirits taught polygamy, and Anne Lee's 
insisted upon celibacy, there must be a very Vv'ide diversity of opinions in the 
spirit-world, and the generic term of "the spirits" would not have been suffi- 



234 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

cient authority to account for all the vagaries in which mankind chose to 
indulge, on the plea of a supra-mundane command, had it not furnished the 
weapon for which the opposition had so long waited. Finding it at length, 
they proceeded to use it with such good effect that for a long time the per- 
nicious report gained ground, and Avas sanctioned by the most injurious ihus- 
trations, that free-loveism was the professed doctrine of Spiritualism. 

To no point do we trace this most baseless allegation more clearly than to 
the Kiantone community. It would be unfit to assert that all the Spiritual- 
ists who were there assembled, professed, or even favored these opinions, but 
it would be equally false to truth and the cause of Spiritualism to deny, that 
from this place, and at the time of the settlement narrated above, the propa- 
gandism of these opinions became most mischievously associated with Spirit- 
vialism, bringing a scandal and reproach on the heads of thousands of innocent 
persons, who loathed and repudiated the doctrine, and causing thousands of 
others to shrink back from the investigation of a belief which was so strangely 
associated with the most repulsive features of communism. 

The proof of the practices at Kiantone, their public opposition, attack and 
defence, are all to be found in the eighth volume of the Spiritual Telegraph ; 
it is needless, therefore, for us to burden our pages further with the details of 
this movement, which eventually broke up in mutual recrimination and fail- 
ure. The facts of the case may be briefly sumnied up thus : Amongst the 
Kiantone community the piercing eye of the spirit discovered in the first in- 
stance the mineral treasures that lay hidden in the mystery of time and matter, 
waiting for the utilitarian hand of man to appropriate and convert them into 
blessings for humanity. The association of a number of persons of difterent 
views and purposes developed the special idiosyncracies of all, and called 
forth the special ideas of some to an extent which, however injurious for the 
time being to the progress of Spiritualism, ultimately produced separations in 
its ranks which have been equally healthful and necessary. By temporarily 
fastening an obnoxious reputation upon the noble cause of Spiritualism, the 
"Kiantone movement" called forth discussions and eliminated questions of 
the highest im^Dort, which have been of incalculable benefit, and have ended 
in the sifting process which sooner or later was essential to free Spiritualism 
from all other claims and pretensions than the sublime jDurposes of proving 
the soul's immortality, the unity of spirit, and individual responsibility. All 
other side issues are fungi, springing up from the corruption of undeveloped 
natures, and, like the morals of Kiantone, must ultimately be shaken oft" from 
the divine body, on which they are a simple excrescence. 

With the breaking up of the little community at Kiantone, Mr. Spear once 
more became a " missionary at large." He gave to the world a volume called 
the "Educator," containing some highly suggestive and valuable essa)fs. 
Several attempts at associative action also owe a fleeting success to his san- 
guine and enthusiastic genius, few of which are of sufticient moment to claim 
further notice. 

Whilst writing on the subject of "movements," however, and the tempo- 
rary influence such combinations exercised on the progress of Spiritualism, we 
must not omit to notice one more attempt, which nothing less than the inhe- 
rent strength of "the cause" could have transformed from an instrument of 
suicidal ruin into a page of salutary warning. 

It was about the spring of 1S62 that a rumor went abroad concerning a 
new movement permeating the ranks of Spiritualism which had already en- 
listed in its interests some of the wealthiest and most distinguished citizens 
of the New England States. About this time a trance sj)eaker, whom we 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 235 

shall designate as Mrs. E., came to Boston to deliver a course of lectures un- 
der the auspices of the Spiritualists. 

Mrs. E. had already been apprised of some of the initiatory features of the 
new movement, and from sources both mundane and supra-mundane, had 
been warned that it contained the seeds of irrevocable mischief, if not ruin, to 
the cause of Spiritualism. Other mediumistic predictions tallied with these 
dark premonitions. It was affirmed that " a monster would be born in Massa- 
chusetts, whose demoniac nature would threaten the overthrow of the entire 
fabric of strength and beauty that spirits had been for years laboring to up- 
rear." In various communications from spirit friends, the part which Mrs. 
E. was required to perform in the commg struggle was clearly pointed out to 
her, and her arrival in Boston soon confirmed the statements made as to what 
was expected of her. 

Boston had been selected, it would appear, as the headquarters of the mys- 
tics ; and as Mrs. E. was one who could command the ear of very large audi- 
cences in her public ministrations, she soon began to be plied with earnest 
solicitations to throw whatever power and influence she possessed into the 
scale of " the great new movement." All that could successfully influence a 
female heart — the most flattering prospects of temporal and spiritual distinc- 
tion as well as appeals on the higher score of angelic authority — were urged 
upon the medium to secure her adiierence to the movement. But angels 
had already preoccupied the sphere of her mind, and made their appeals to 
her judgment ; hence these importunate human solicitations only the more 
conclusively proved to Mrs. E. that the hour of active decision already pre- 
dicted was at hand. The association was not in actual operation at the time 
of which we speak, yet its preliminary arrangements had a startling magnitude. 

One thing struck Mrs. E. with peculiar significance ; it was the fact that 
although this movement seemed to include a wider field of action than had 
ever yet been canvassed, and a greater number of prominent persons than 
had ever before seemed disposed to combine in a spiritualistic association, 
yet the leaders and principal officials were unknown, or so veiled in myste- 
rious reserve that it was by a seemingly fortuitous circumstance only that 
Mrs. E. learned who the central sun and immediate satellites of the system 
really were. Acting under the stimulus of this knowledge, and aided by in- 
terior guidance, Mrs. E. deferred all direct communication with the agents, 
who strove to wind their web around her -with singular pertinacity, until the 
second Sunday of her ministrations in Boston, when a discourse of the most 
marked and obvious character was delivered through her lips, the purport of 
which could not be mistaken. The subject was the pernicious and retro- 
gressive character of secret societies, contrasted with the purity, integrity, and 
progressive tendency of modern Spiritualism. Scathing rebukes were admin- 
istered to those who sought to usurp the holy and beneficent name of Spirit- 
ualism to veil their assumptions of authority, and mask in mystery and dark- 
ness the world-wide and sun-like revelations from the realms of immortality. 

All organizations that would not bear the scrutiny of light, the tests of 
science, or the analysis of practical religion, were denounced as effete, 
Avorthy only of the days of priestly domination, and subversive of the broad, 
comprehensive, and truly practical bearings of Spiritualism. " 

This lecture, delivered to an immense and attentive audience, was most in- 
dignantly received by the partisans of the new movement, who were assem- 
bled in the hall, expecting to hear an address of a very different character. 
One of their number, addressing Mrs. E. as she was quitting the rostrum, 
assured her, in fiercely-impassioned tones that," as she had used her great gifts 



236 HISTORY OF MODERN 

to wai against a mighty and heaven-born movement, so she would yet repent 
that right's oration in dust and aslies ! " The members of the association 
were in terrible earnest : this now openly-avowed antagonist not less so. An 
attempt at compromise, made on the following day by parties who wished well 
to both, entirely failed. 

The association avowedly consisted of an esoteric as well as an exoteric 
circle. Mrs. E. charged some of the " order " Avith revolving around certain 
persons and principles veiled in the supposed mystery of the esoteric adytum, 
and the announcement was received with confused denial by the members 
of the interior, and indignant astonishment by those of the exterior circles ; 
obviously, they did not enjoy a perfect understanding, and some good reason 
for the mystery of a "secret society" within an open one, began to dawn 
upon the minds of the unenlightened. Although it was not consistent with 
the principles Of the opposition to accept of office or enter into the secrets 
of initiation for purposes of treachery, the few hints which, as above stated, 
glanced at the veiled mystery of the secret portion of the order, manifestly 
began to affect the faith of those who had allied themselves with the exterior 
circle, in the belief that it was based simply on the highest affirmations of the 
highest Spiritualism. 

The external and popular operations of the association were of so attract- 
ive a character, and so broadly humanitary in their views, that however trans- 
cendental some of their propositions might seem, few could take exception to 
them. The society was called the "Sacred Order of Unionists," and the' fol- 
lowing excerpts are selected from a small tract which they put forth in exposi- 
tion of the exoteric branch. 

"THE SACRED ORDER OF UNIONISTS — 'THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE." 

"This order is a voluntary association of men and -women, instituted for the following 
general purposes : 

" First. To unite man to man, nation to nation, planet to planet. 

" Second. To abolish war in all its forms, and to promote universal peace. 

" Third. To organize various co-operative and beneficent institutions, which, without 
injuring the rich, shall greatly aid and help to educate the poor and the improvident 
classes. 

"Fourth. To establish such religious institutions and observances as are in harmony with 
man's nature, and shall tend to his highest culture 

"As collateral objects the order will seek : • 

'* First. To promote among men exact justice to all. 

** Second. To establish universal freedom. 

" Third. To fraternize all races of men. 

•' Fourth. To encourage all good vi^orks. 

" Fifth. To ameliorate and banish human suffering, etc. 

" Sixth. To inaugurate a state in which there shall be one head, one heart, one language, 
and one interest, etc 

" For a season, and for the sake of greater efficiency and security in its incipient labors, 
this order will be veiled from the public eye ; that is, its specific operations and its member- 
ship will be known only to the initiated ; but in due time the injunction of secrecy will be 
removed, and the world will be permitted to behold its glory and to feel its power. Its 
work of social reconstruction thus follows the natural or divine method in the formation of 
the human organism, beginning in secret and proceeding in an orderly manner from centre 
to circumference. The centre or heart of the new social order is the church, tlie divine in 
man, from whose vital pulsations all other parts proceed. 

"It has one supreme head, and an assembly consisting of twelve members; which 
assembly will organize its various branches under distinct heads 

"The methods of action proposed by the order, while comprehensive in their purpose, 
are, in its incipient stages, of a very simple character. It has at its head a single mind, 
who receives suggestions from all sources — from the heavens above, as well as from the 
earth beneath." 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 237 

But despite of the united action of the interior and exterior circles, nothing 
could fully restore the confidence which had been shaken by the antagonistic 
efforts which were silently, but surely, working against them. Still the issue, 
if left to man alone, might have been doubtful. The veil of mystery which 
inclosed the hierophantic centre might be pierced by the shrewd 6)^6 of 
speculation, or the keener glance of clairvoyance, but would never have 
been shorn of its mystic pretences, had not some pov\'er, whose agency has 
never been fully disclosed, moved two of the fully initiated, even the hiero- 
phants of the most interior mysteries, to recede from them, in what they 
emphatically called "disgust," and boldly to come before the world with the 
offer to expose them to any ears that would open to receive them. Upon this, 
ensued a scene Avhich probably was then enacted for the first and last time in 
the spiritual ranks. As the promised revelations immediately affected the 
characters of many persons who had committed themselves to the association 
without a very clear understanding of what their connection with its mysteries 
might involve, it was determined to call together as many of those interested 
as possible, and then resolve, according to the nature of the revelations they 
should receive, whether their further adherence was consistent with their 
views of propriety or not. 

The judges and jury who were to constitute the first court of inquiry ever 
held in the annals of modern Spiritualism, assembled in the ante-chambers 
of Lyceum Hall, Boston, in the month of May, 1862, and hastily extempo- 
rized themselves into something of a judicial form. 

The names of those present, or the full details of what transpired, are no 
longer of essential moment in the annals of the time. The history of the 
spiritualistic movement imperatively demands a record of the causes, how- 
ever remote or indirect, which became influential upon its external character 
and progress, hence we are prepared to notice the succession of every im- 
portant event, as it occurred ; but when we are required to connect those 
events with individuals to whom the record may attach censure or misunder- 
standing, we must remember that in the great upheaval which society endured 
by the advent of so wonderful and unprecedented a stimulus to new thought 
as Spiritualism, many violent extremisms, temporary exaggerations, and ex- 
cessive revulsions in newly-awakened habits of old thought, might be natur- 
ally expected. Such were the causes which unquestionably conspired to 
produce the fanaticism of the " new motor movement." 

Restless reformers, keenly apprehensive of the real evils which afflict 
society in uncongenial family relations, sapping the very foundations of life 
with the curse of inherited wrongs, rashly rushed into excessive extremism, 
and uttered their unconsidered protestations against the ancient regime by 
originating a new and far more dangerous one at Kiantone. A remnant of 
the broken ranks, which incurred failure in these and many other similar 
undertakings, seemed determined to make one final rally in the Boston move- 
ment now under consideration, but with their purposes marred by fanatical 
zeal and ill-digested views of reform, they once more failed, or, as they them- 
selves doubtless believed, started their undertaking in advance of their time. 
The accusations preferred by the hierophants consisted of what they claimed 
to be "immoral practices, teachings, and tendencies," and proved by cita- 
tions from communications, sanctioning these courses, alleged to have been 
received from the spirit-world by certain mediums connected with the 
order. 

The defence set up was that the said mediums represented their own. indi- 
viduality rather than the will or aim of the association, and when their author- 



238 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

itative position therein was urged, a still more exculpatory tone was attempted 
by the application of the well-worn adage that " to the pure all things are pure." 

It were needless to pursue this subject further. The real details are but 
little known to the world. Had they been so, they would have furnished the 
press Avith so many grains of ugly truth that they might have been spared a 
whole world of invention, and filled their columns v/ith fresh editorials, and 
interminable variations of the story from that tune to the present. The real 
animus of Spiritualists and Spiritualism, however, may be judged from the 
fact that though the most repulsive features of the case were only known to 
themselves, that though they had in reality nothing to fear from the world, 
and as yet suffered no discredit in their ov/n persons, no sooner was the real 
character of the " secret society" known than the tree was uprooted by some 
of the very hands that had been foremost to assist in its planting. 

The great body of the Spiritualists did not wait to see good fruit springing 
forth from a plant which they perceived carried the seeds of corruption in its 
heart. From the very moment when they deemed the elements of good sense 
and pure feeling were lacking at the root, they laid the axe to the tree, and it 
fell ere it had begun to put forth leaves or branches. 

The mysterious association affected to drag on an effete existence for some 
time after the memorable trial above noted, but in reality it virtually ceased 
to be, from that hour. 

But though the life of the order [in this generation at least] terminated, the 
results which sprang from its fleeting existence were more enduring. 

A meeting was convened by several of the prominent Spiritualists of Boston, 
and a committee appointed to draft a plan for a " declaration of principles," 
whereby the Spiritualists then and there assembled might be known and un- 
derstood for what they really were, and their professions of belief no more be 
confounded with the disorders of "free-loveism," or the vagaries of fanatics, 
or one-idea reformers, who, speculating on the credulity of their fellow-mor- 
tals, planned schemes for elevating thenselves into positions of leadership. 

At the next adjourned meeting of the Boston Spiritualists above referred 
to, the plan of the committee was unanimously accepted, printed, and widely 
circulated, as the " Declaration of Principles of the Lyceum Church." 

With the exigencies of the time, the effects of both poison and antidote have 
ceased to be publicly felt, though the warning conveyed in the one, and the 
stern protestations of the other, have doubtless carried their results silently 
forward into the tides of life in which the characteristics of new generations 
are formed. 

The broken ranks of the " Sacred Order," after having made great pecu- 
niary and personal sacrifices for its advancement, ha.ve lived to realize either 
that the force of public opinion, or the imseen but still more potential forces 
of spiritual influence were against them ; and having endured some self-im- 
posed martyrdoms in behalf of their cause, they have silently returned to the 
Avell-beaten paths of ordinary life, in which they have doubtless found both 
safety and usefulness. And thus, over obstacles far more real and porten- 
tous than any which the shadowy realms of falsehood and the petty arm of 
malice could invent. Spiritualism has marched to its triumphs over the legions 
of its own slain. Suffering infinitely more at the hands of its professed friends 
than its avowed enemies, nothing but the inherent strength and potent divin- 
ity of this mighty movement, could have made head against the combined 
forces of persecution from without and corruption from within. 

In this, as in other religious movements, persons calling themselves " Spir- 
itualists" seem to have labored to overwhelm their cause -with all the folly 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 239 

and selfish purposes of their o\vn natures, as if for the express purpose of 
shaking down the magnificent temple, even though, Samson-like, they should 
perish beneath the ruins they create. 

True it is that experience proves,, and observation shows, that the ■\\Tongs, 
falses, and evils of society have not been originated, only prominently exhib- 
ited by Spiritualism ; and when Spiritualists remember that the few fanatical 
episodes our space has allowed us to notice can be matched by twice-told tei"> 
thousand far more fonnidable evils, which the hypocrites of society are ever 
striving to cover with the white mantle of religion, they may feel encouraged 
to affirm that folly and corruption are not the pecuhar attributes of Spiritual- 
ism alone ; and if that movement can survive the shocks administered to it by 
its friends, its vitality is unquenchable enough to overcome all the attacks of 
its enemies. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



SPIRITUALISM AND SPIRITUAL MOUNTEBANKS. 

" Not sen'e two masters ? 
Here's a youth will try it : 

Would fain serve God, yet give the Devil his due ; 
Says grace before he does a deed of villainy, 
And utters prayers devoutly when 'tis acted" 

Old Play. 

"To be, or not to be : that is the question." 

SliAXSPEARE. 

The Spiritual Mountebank System — Ely — Von Vleck — Paine — Mr. Coles 
AT The New York Conference — Randolph and his Recantation — The 
New York Pathfinder and Swedenborg — Miss Vinson — George Walcutt 
AND his Spiritual Guardians — Professor and Mrs. Spence, on Non-Immor- 
tality. 

When it is remembered that Spiritualism numbers one-fourth at least of the 
population of the United States in its ranks, it can be no matter of sui-prise 
to find many persons associated with it, whose character and actions are cal- 
culated to inflict far more damage on the cause than the most bitter antagon- 
ism or sectarian opposition. Amongst those, none have been so active for 
mischief as " spiritual mountebanks " and dishonest mediums. 

They consist for the most part of persons endowed with genuine medi- 
umstic gifts, but who, not possessing sufficient ability to insure financial suc- 
cess, use these gifts as a means of pandering either to the marvel- seeker 
or the opposition, whichever chances, for the time being, to pay the best. 

This class of fungi generally spring up when Spiritualism is at its maxi- 
mum point of excitement, and after operating on both sides of the question, 
strike the balance in favor of the most popular, which is of course the most 
profitable likewise. The dishonest medium is scarcely less unprincipled than 
the mountebank ; for the temptation to imposition only arises from the fact 
that all mediumship is unreliable, and the desire to procure the reward or credit 
of devices which cannot be legitimately rendered is the stimulus to impo- 
sition. Even the medium who occasionally practices deception, betrays the 
most holy of causes and the most sacred impulses of the heart, and such 
acts of cheating are as much the result of avarice or ambition as the acts 
of the piofessional trickster. We might be excused from pointing to these 



240 HISTORY OF MODERN 

blui's on the fair face of our cause, on the ground that such proceedhigs are 
not Spiritualism and therefore do not belong to our narrative, but as they 
measurably produced their effect on the progress of Spiritualism, they have 
their place in this record, and form a necessary feature in a chronicle which 
bases its claim to acceptance on the immutable principles of truth. The 
period from 1858 to 1862 was particularly rife with the action of "spiritual 
mountebanks." Up to that time such persons had been simply "trying their 
hand " at Spiritualism, and feeling, perhaps, a little uncertain of the power with 
which they were dealing, feared to tamper with it. No sooner did they be- 
gin to understand the really human character of the once-mysterious world 
of spirits, than with cool assurance they proceeded to deal with if on strictly 
human principles, and discovering on which side of the movement the finan- 
cial successes lay, they shaped their action accordingly ; and since Spiritualism 
proper Avould not pay, they proceeded to make capital out of popular preju- 
dice against it by " recanting their faith," " exposing its fallacies," and pro- 
claiming all mediums cheats and all Spiritualists knaves or fools, because they 
were willing to brand themselves in the same category. It w^ould be almost 
impossible to say who led the van in this respectable crusade, as none of the 
parties have attained sufficient celebrity to distinguish them in their high call- 
ing. As they appeared like wasps in the feverish heat of summer, or noxious 
living things born of the undue excitement which reacts in corruption, it is 
difficult to select individuals from the generic mass. Amongst the most 
notorious of the fraternity, however, a few stand out more prominently than 
the rest, foremost of whom in paramount impudence may be mentioned one 
£ly, who whether mediumistically moved to advertise Spiritualism, or a mere 
chevalier cV Industrie laboring in any vocation that he thought would pay, 
it matters not now to inquire ; suffice it to say, that at special points in the 
progress of the spiritual movement, and just when a certain amount of an- 
tagonistic stimulus became necessary, Ely appeared, now acting as a medium- 
and now going about from place to place recounting his own treachery, de- 
manding credit for his own assertions of being an unmitigated cheat, and act- 
ing as a self-appointed detector-general, for "humbugs" of the same class as 
himself At first his pretentions were so bold and assuming that some of the 
Spiritualists actually responded in good faith to his daring tone of challenge, 
and allowed themselves to appear in public discussions or paper contro- 
versies with him. It was soon found, however, that his principal aim was to 
procure notoriety and full audiences ; that his tricks were so shallow, his 
impudence so unscrupulous, and, even with the opposition, his whole pro- 
cedure so offensive, that to notice him at all, was to concede his point, and 
discredit any name or person associated with him. Another of the exposers 
was one Von Vleck, a little man, whose hardihood was displayed in continual 
alternations between his assumption of genuine mediumship and his auda- 
cious acknowledgment of deception. 

Both these worthies assumed the title of " doctor," and one of them ac- 
tually exhibited his tricks at Barnum's Museum for a " consideration." 

After these, appeared a certain " Melville Fay," who, though repeatedly de- 
tected and openly exposed by the Spiritualists themselves, insisted upon palm- 
ing himself off as a medium until he was literally chased out of the field, 
when he, too, hired public halls to exhibit his own tricks as specimens of all 
mediumship. The chief injury effected by this member of the mountebank 
fraternity was the fact of his bearing the name of " Fay," hence causing him 
to be sometimes mistaken for Mr. William Fay, an excellent medium, who 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 241 > 

travelled in Europe with the Davenport Brothers and was deservedly cele- 
brated for remarkable phenomenal gifts. 

It was about the year 1858 that another " bogus medium " was added to this 
choice list in the person of a Mr. Paine, cf Worcester, Mass. This man had 
actually succeeded in carrying on a systematic course of deception for some 
years, by the aid of machinery the nature of which was reported in the Spir- 
itual Telegraph by Mr. J. F. Coles, who sums up the mode of detecting the 
imposture in the foUoAving words : 

"Up to Sunday evening, the 4th instant, t\\e plait was undiscovered. On that occasion, 
in a circle of ten persons, there happened to be three Spiritualists who were very sceptical, 
viz., Mr. Henry Smith, the well-loio-wn 'Razor-strop Man;' Mr. C. B. J. Waters, of 
Worcester ; and the v/riter of this article. At the conclusion of the ' manifestations,' all 
appeared satisfied save the three sceptics, who determined not to leave the house until the 
carpet was taken up and the floor examined. The result of this sceptical determination was 
a clear unravelling of the mystery, and there is now one less humbug in the spiritual 
field John F. Coles." 

Now, the discovery of machinery in the case of Mr. Paine was not so very 
astounding after all. Up to the time of the expose, Paine' s "maiiifesta- 
tions" had never been remarkable for intelligence, and had always been 
given in his own house, circumstances which did not conform to the genius 
of the spiritual phenomena, whose chief characteristics were the tests of iden- 
tity, which proved the presence of individual spirits, and the fact that they 
could be produced anywhere, that is, in any locality, whether in field or forest, 
private houses, the dwelling of friends or strangers, as well as in those of the 
mediums themselves. The imposition practiced by Paine, therefore, was only 
remarkable for the length of time during which it had remained undiscovered 
and the extraordinary reasons which he assigned for his conduct. 

The Spiritualists in general have held for their motto, " The truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth ;" hence, with characteristic frankness, they 
were accustomed to discuss at their conferences any subject that related to 
their belief, whether of a disparaging nature or otherwise. At the New York 
Conference this spirit of candor led them to invite strangers to take part in 
their discussions, and on one occasion, Mr. Paine, the " bogus medium," being 
present, and requesting permission "to define his position" in reference to 
the late exposure of his practices, he was permitted to make the following 
statement, which we copy from the Spiritual Telegraph : 

" Mr. Paine said, he felt himself alive to the delicacy of his position ; but if the thing 
were to do over again, he would not vary his programme in the least. He is a Spiritualist. 
He believes there have been, and may be yet extant, a few honest mediums, and occasion- 
ally a veritable spiritual manifestation ; but a large proportion of the reputed mediums are 
cheats and the manifestations shams. He does not ask for the pity of tire conference, for 
he does not feel himself to be the subject of pity. 

" He stands commended in this matter to his o\^^l conscience; he has resorted to decep- 
tion in order to meet deception and ultimately to expose it. He thinks the end justifies the 
means, in this case at least, whatever doubt there might be about it as a principle of ethics. 
[Here Mr. Paine held up a bit of what appeared to be No. 2 wire as the mighty instru- 
ment with which he set out to rid the world of humbug.] But he counts this a; 
amongst his treasures in heaven. He has never charged anybody. Somebody gave h'u 
wife six chairs, and small presents may have flowed into his earthly coffers from time to 
time ; but it was a labor of love on his part — love of the cause- — -a self-sacrificing devo- 
tion to truth 

" Having arrived in New York, he commenced operations with the expectation of getting 
the indorsement of the Spiritualists to his mediumship, and then he intended to visit the 
benighted cities of Boston and Philadelphia, where it was fondly believed a like success 
would crown his efforts. 
16 



'*242 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" From tills vantage ground of spiritualistic indorsement, it was fully his intention to 
rescue the cities aforesaid and the cause generally from the thraldom of cheating mediums, 
by issuing to each and every one of them a private mandate to vacate the field, or be publicly 
denounced as cheats. He has no faith in Spiritualism founded upon spiritual manifestations. 
Plis aim is to lift the soul from all such grovelling evidences as address themselves to us 

through the senses And it may be permitted the reporter to remark that 

inasmuch as Mr. Paine has been the first martjT to his own pious fraud, he will retire into 
private life with a thorough disgust for his machine." 

Considering that Mr. Paine had actually been practicing on the public for 
five years and never attempted to put into action his philanthropic purpose 
of saving the world from the tricks of mediums, until after his own had been 
detected, his very candid admissions did not seem to produce much effect 
upon the conference ; but it may not be amiss, in this connection, to quote a 
few pages illustrative of the opinions of those who listened to him. The 
following sentences spoken by the Rev. J. S. Loveland, form a pretty fair 
expression of the general sentiment respecting Mr. Paine : 

"Mr. Loveland said: It might be profitable to consider whether or not Mr. Paine, who 
has felt himself impressed to cheat his fellow-creatures for God's sake, and Mr. Coles, who 
has exposed him, are not, themselves, slightly tinctured with fallacy in concluding, as they 
seem to do, from the deceptioii proved and confessed, that cheating is universal. This is 
strange logic. It is an imputation at once repelled by every mind that feels itself to be hon- 
est. The logical inference arising from the fact that there are perhaps thirty thousand 
mediums, embracing every variety, as to age, condition, etc. , is that honesty is the 7-ii/e and 
cheating the exception. 

" Coolly to insinuate, as Messrs. Coles and Paine seem to do, that these are mostly, if not 
all cheats, is a libel on human nature and common intelligence. The very fact of Paine' s 
silly imitation or counterfeit presupposes an original and genuine. Whence the original ? 
What expert in deception first started the idea that spudts could rap and move ponderable 
bodies ? 

"Mr. Coles could not well have originated that idea, for, in common with the whole 
Christian church, he disbelieves that spirits can communicate at all in any tangible way. 
It could not have been Mr. Paine, for his stupid hoax proves that he has not sense 
enough. ' ' 

For the benefit of those who may not have an opportunity of acquaint- 
ing themselves with the fact, it may be well to state that after this memorable 
failure to sweep physical manifestations out of America Avith a bit of No. 2 
wire, Mr. Paine, of Worcester, did retire into private life, from whence, up to 
the date of going to press, no further tidings of that illustrious individual have 
reached us. 

It was in the year 1858 that a great jubilee was proclaimed in Boston by 
the societies of Christendom, who make that city their headquarters, on ac- 
count of the public "recantation" of an individual known as P. B. Ran- 
dolph, a Spiritualist and a trance speaker. Randolph, it was acknowledged, 
had not been very well sustained in his career amongst the Spiritualists, and 
it was suggested that some of their number neither desired to sustain him nor 
retain his services in connection with the cause ; hence, no very great alarm s 
for its future was experienced when he came out in the form of a " recanta- 
tion," throwing himself at the same time into the arms of a certain sect of 
Christians in Boston, by Avhom he was most cordially received, formally bap- 
tized, and greatly patronized and prayed over. Even while in the full tide of 
his popularity amongst his new brethren he was.induced, for a " consideration," 
to appear on the Spiritualists' platform at the Melodeon under the manage- 
ment of Dr. Gardner, for the sake of making his "recantation" more pub- 
lic and proclaiming it in the very heart of the spiritualistic rank?,. IMany of 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 243 ^. 

the sterner believers in the faith highly censured Dr. Gardner for parading 
this unworthy subject on the spiritual platform, and various motives have 
been assigned for tlae doctor's conduct. Some declared that he only desired 
to fill the hall ; others that he was just then destitute of a sensation, and was 
glad to accept of anything short of negro minstrelsy. Some thought it was an 
act of bravado intended to show the sectarian who had so eagerly snatched at 
this precious morsel how utterly unimportant such " recantations " were, and 
others there were who shrewdly suspected what we believe to be the real truth, 
namely, that the doctor was desirous of publicly exhibiting the true character 
of the loss sustained by Spiritualism and the gain of Christianit}^ In this as 
in any similar object aimed at, all parties were foiled ; for after having made 
some rambling and utterly inapplicable remarks about Spiritualism, interspersed 
with evidently sensational attempts to show that he -was still "under the influ- 
ence " and compelled occasionally to break off from his written lecture and re- 
turn to his old style of improvisation, the whole affair concluded by the said Dr. 
Randolph's speedy return to the ranks of Spiritualism, in which he has been 
practicing on and off ever since. And yet this petty attempt on the part of 
a single individual to drag himself into notoriety, even at the expense of char- 
acter and reputation, was another of the popular weapons which the press 
and pulpit eagerly seized upon to wield against Spiritualism. 

Amongst the more respectable and intelligent class of the community it 
becomes difficult to find any one stirred with the special motives which could 
induce a "recantation" from the scientific facts and reasonable philosophy 
of Spiritualism ; nevertheless, and in order to give every phase of the mo-^e- 
ment in its most protean shape, and with all available candor, Ave present the 
only instance we can find of an intelligent and apparently reasonable mind's 
revolt from the once accepted faith of Spiritualism. We shall offer the 
plain facts of the case, without comment, or attempt to extenuate the 
motives of the party involved, or to explain away whatever of shadow in 
Spiritualism he affirms he perceived. "We refer to the case of Mr. Whitney, 
the editor of the New York Pathfinder, a gentleman, who having, as he himself 
claimed, "thoroughly investigated Spiritualism," and even become a medium 
for its influence, finally arrived at the conclusion that spirits are only allowed 
by the Almighty to come to the earth for the purpose of leading mankind on 
to ruin and eternal perdition. 

Strangely enough, in the same articles which contain his rambling disquis- 
itions on the Swedenborgian theory that spirit communion with mortals is 
" disorderly and perilous," he gives some of his experiences during the years 
in which he had deemed himself "blessed and happy" in that intercourse. 
As Mr. Charles Partridge has condensed Mr. Whitney's experiences, and the 
deductions he draws from them oi demoniac influences, from that gentleman's 
own words, printed in the columns of the Fatliflnde?', we shall republish them 
in a verbatim extract from the Spiritual Telegraph. 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF MR. WHITNEY. 
(From the Spiritual Telegraph.') 

"Having been once or twice to a tipping and writing medium, we were only desirous of 
proving tlie identity of a dear departed one, and drew up a series of questions wliich we 
intended to propound to the spirit. The questions referred to were written on a letter sheet 
of paper, and covered the whole four pages in a small and closely-written hand. 

"These questions were written by ourself, when entirely alone and locked in our sanctum 
free from mortal sight. Having finished the document, we placed it in an envelope, sealed 
it, and ther placed it inside of our coat breast-pocket. 



244 HISTORY OF MODERN 

"We went directly from our office to the room of the medium, holding no conversation 
with any individual until the following took place wliile seated with the medium at liis table 
in company with three other persons, entire strangers to us. 

" We had sat probably fifteen minutes at the table, when the medium turned to us and 
remarlced tliat we could inquire if thei-e were any spirit that desired to communicate with us. 
The response came immediately — 'Yes.' After putting two or three questions of minor 
importance, we concluded we would not produce the written questions, but defer it for 
another time, when the medium's hand was controlled and the following message was written 
out: 

"'My dear, why do you not ask the questions you have prepared? ' 

"This was signed with the given name of the spirit to whom our written questions were 
addressed. 

•'It may well be supposed that it created a sm-prise in us, that we can little describe, know- 
ing, as we did, that the name of the spirit had not been mentioned, or that any one present 
knew the spirit we were seeking. 

" While under this surprise, a gentleman who sat opposite to us, like us, come to investi- 
gate, said, ' Now, before anytliing is spoken, let us get a test out of this. Will the spirit 
state whether the gentleman has any questions prepared, and if so, will they indicate it, and 
write out through tlie medium's hand the first question written?' 

" 'Yes,' was the reply, 'lie has questions prepared,' and tlien tlie medium's hand wrote out 
a question. We immediately drew out the letter, opened it, and read to those present the 
first question on our list, which proved to be an exact copy of the one the medium liad written. 

"The spirit again wrote: 'I will now answer your questions; ask them mentally.' We 
held the paper in front of us, using care that the medium or^ny one present should not over- 
look us. 

"We then read, mentally, the questions, and, at the end of each question, the spirits 
responded, either by tips or through the mediums' hand, correctly and satisfactorily. 

" Had the spirit been present in the body, it could not have done it more correctly. 

" We left the circle in a state of thought tliat no one can conceive of who has not passed 
through a similar scene." 

"Religious Instructions from the Spirits. — It so happened that most of our fam- 
ily became firm believers with us, with the exception of the mother, who looked upon the 
manifestations as we do now, she being a professor of religion and member of a Presbyterian 
church; hence slie did all she could to persuade us we were under the influence of evil, and 
predicted that no good would come from it. She begged, entreated, nay, implored her chil- 
dren to denounce and give it up. 

" So far were her feelings concerned that she even refused to remain with us in the house, 
and demanded that the younger part of her family should go with her. Whilst in that state 
of mind, one of her family present was observed on a certain occasion to be peculiarly 
affected ; a paleness came over his face, and, with tears streaming from his eyes, he called for 
a pencil and wrote the following sentiment, remarking, after lie had finished it, that it was for 
her — the mother — and was from the spirit of Christ, as nearly as his spudt could approach 
the earth : 

" ' Let the voice of truth and reason ever guide you in all your acts. Keep heaven ever in 
your view, as the great idol of your soul and the pole-star which shall guide you to happmess 
and a glorious immortality. 

" ' Let love and unity entwine aroimd your hearts a garland of pure affection, which God 
in his goodness has decreed to all who shall desire to receive it. Be calm, modest, unassum- 
ing, trusting in that blessed promise of Jesus which says. Where I am, there ye shall be also.' 

" She immediately rose from her chair and exclaimed, * I am a believer in Spiritualism; for 
whilst sitting here, I uttered a fervent prayer to Jesus that if these things were true he M-ould 
reveal it to me by a communication from himself. I am satisfied that my prayer was heard 
and this is the answer.' From that hour she became a believer, and has continued so to the 
present time ; and more, she became developed as a medium. " 

" Saved Him from the Flood. — Happening to visit a well-known medium one even- 
ing, while sitting outside of the circle that was gathered round the table, not seeking or 
expecting a communication from the spirits, the medium wrote the following : ' My dear 
Son, on your return home, look well to your house. Abigail. 

"The medium inquired who was present that liad a mother in the spirit-world of that 
name. We said nothing, none responded, and finally the medium asked, ' Is it for this 
one ? ' pointing to each one in turn in the room, until it came to us, when the spirit re- 
sponded 'Yes.' 

" We acknowledged that we had a mother deceased by that name, took the communica- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 245 

tion, and returned home. We naturally took a look about the house, but could not dis- 
cover anything that required more than usual vigilance, until our attention was directed to 
a ' scuttle ' or trap-door in the roof, which had been blown open by the wind. Having 
closed this trap-door our attention was called to the flues, which we found in a precarious 
condition. 

" Suffice it to say, that had not our attention been directed in the channel it was by the 
spirits, we should have had a large part of our household effects destroyed by soot and 
watei", as in the night one of the most violent rain-storms came up that we ever remember. 

"Now these are facts, and to our own mmd are understood to be communications from 
disembodied spirits ; and the reader will naturally exclaim, ' We see no evil in all that, but 
simply a desire on the part of the spirits to prove their identity, and promote your worldly 
comforts and interests.' We grant it, and can only say, in the language of another, that 
' Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad;' and we, from observation of the fruits 
of modern Spiritualism, are fully satisfied that whom the devil wishes to control, he first 
makes happy." 

Now it may be naturally supposed that having given an experience which 
must commend itself to every candid mind as presenting naught but good, 
we should be equally frank in revealing the nature of the shoals and reefs on 
which Mr. Whitney's faith was ultimately wrecked, and his confidence in 
Spiritualism destroyed, but we are obliged to confess that on searching the 
columns of the PatJifinder, we are unable to fix upon a single fact detailed, 
which would warrant anyConclusion of a diabolical agency in the spiritual 
movement, and no other philosophy for such an idea, than the passage above 
quoted, namely, that "whom the devil would control, he first makes happy," 
and certain remarks from the writings of Swedenborg, the most apposite of 
which is quoted by Mr. Whitney, as follows : 

"When spirits begin to speak with man, he must beware lest he believe them in any- 
thing, for they say almost anj'thing ; things are fabricated by them, and they lie ; for if they 
were permitted to relate what heaven is, and how things are in the heavens, they would tell 
so many lies, and indeed with such solemn affirmations, that man would be astonished ; 
wherefore, when spirits were speakmg I was not permitted to have any faith in the things 
which they related 

" On this account, the state of speaking with spirits on this earth is most perilous unless 
one is in the true faith. They induce so strong a persuasion that it is the Lord himself who 
speaks and who commands, that man cannot but believe and obey. " 

And thus, upon the one-sided representations of a philosopher who claimed 
the Divine privilege of spiritual sight and communion for himself, but denied 
it to others on the peril of mysterious and wholly incomprehensible possibili- 
ties of danger, Mr. Whitney was contented to renounce the intercourse 
whose truth and blessed ministry his own statements bore wtness of, and 
brand the experiences of millions of his fellow-mortals as disorderly, if not 
absolutely diabolical. 

We shall take but one more glance at the dark features of Spiritualism, 
which just about the time of which we are writing threatened to overcloud the 
bright sky whose sunshine had so long gladdened the hearts of the believers, 
and even involve the whole cause in the night of a terrible and materialistic 
reaction. The case in question refers once more to the injurious frauds 
which were just about this period perpetrated in the name of Spiritualism. 

The narrative is taken from one of the local Ohio papers, and reads as 
follows : 

"PRETENTIOUS SPIRITUALISM. 

"According to a statement in the Daily City Facts, printed in Columbus, Ohio, it 
eeems that Dr. Ensign, an elderly man, formerly a Methodist preacher, with a Miss Vuison, 



246 HISTORY OF MODERN 

both of Cardington, Ohio, advertised to give exhibitions of Spiritualism in Mechanic's 
Hall. The lady claims to be a medium for some remarkable manifestations by the spirit of 
one 'King.' 

•* On Wednesday and Thursday evenings large audiences attended, at an admittance of 
tvi^enty-five cents each. The entertainment consisted in seeing strung up before the audi- 
ence, drums, tambourines, and other instruments, and of a brief, illogical, chopped-up speech 
from the minister, in explanation of the kind of Spiritualism they were about to exhibit. 
Then the hall was made perfectly dark, and a person whom they had engaged commenced 
playing lively tunes on the violin, and it was said that the spirit 'King' and his associates 
accompanied the music by playing the drums and tambourines. During the exhibition on 
the third evening, two persons in different parts of the hall suddenly and simultaneously 
opened on them the glare fi'om dark-lanterns which disclosed the fact that the' players on 
■ the drums and tambourines were none other than the Methodist preacher and the young girl. 
" The meeting of course broke up in confusion." 

There are two facts connected with this case which did not come under 
the notice of the Columbus journahst. The first is, that one of the parties 
who sprang a hght on the impostors was a v/ell-known Spiritualist of the city, 
confirming by practical proof our assertion that the Spiritualists have nothing 
to fear for the real facts of their belief, and never seek to build them up with 
the corrupt material of fraud or error. The second incident is of a more 
private nature and involves a curious evidence of the guardianship and min- 
istry of spirits. 

At an exibition of Miss Vinson's pretended power as a medium, and pre- 
vious to the expose, Mr. George Walcutt, of Columbus, was present, and 
became strongly impressed with the deceptive character of what he witnessed. 
At the following seance, which he also attended, he resolved, for the sake of the 
sublime truths which he acknowledged in Spiritualism, that he would test the 
reality of his impressions, and if there was falsehood in the matter, expose it. 

Mr. Walcutt, it may be remembered, was one of the far-famed artists through 
whose wonderful raediumship hundreds of portraits of deceased persons have- 
been painted with marvellous fidelity, although executed only from spirit 
originals, under spirit influence, and often in the dark, or bhndfolded. Be- 
sides his remarkable gifts in this direction, Mr. Walcutt was a fine clairvoyant 
and clairaudient. By aid of his spiritual sight, he distinctly, in the dark, per- 
ceived Miss Vinson — who was supposed to be quietly seated in her chair — 
arise up just after the light had been extinguished, and commence manipula- 
ting the instruments Avhich were assumed to be in the hands of the spirits. 
Indignant at such a fraud, Mr. Walcutt — himself one of the most truthful of 
men — resolved that he would detect and expose the imposture ; for this pur- 
pose he was determined to rise noiselessly from his seat, and grasp the arm 
of the operator as she was swinging the instruments about in the darkness. 
His further course he had not resolved on, but to seize her in the very act of 
trickery was his fixed purpose. Just as he was about to rise, he felt the 
grasp of a strong spirit hand on his shoulder, and a voice, which he recog- 
nized as a beloved guardian's, Avhispered in his ear, "Sit still for your life." 
I'or a few moments Mr. Walcutt obeyed the injunction, paralyzed beneath the 
grasp of the spirit hand, but just as it relaxed its hold, a light was sprung from 
two distant parts of the hall at once, discovering the "medium" and her asso 
ciate on the floor and in the very act of manipulating the instruments. 

The audience was large and highly incensed at the discovery. Miss Vin- 
son was permitted to make her escape quietly enough, but her male compan- 
ion was subjected to some very rough usage, and nothing but the vigorous 
interference of the poUce saved him from the retributive hands of "Judge 
Lynch." 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 24? 

Mr. Walcutt, as a well-known spirit medium, was particularly obnoxious to 
some of the "roughs" of the city, consequently he was aware that had he 
carried out his intention of stepping forward to seize the arm of Miss Vinson, 
at the moment when the lights were struck, he would have been revealed by 
her side, and apparently in the act of aiding her deception. 

No explanation of his motives or appearance in such a situation would have 
availed in that excited assembly, and hence Mr. Walcutt truly and gratefully 
inferred that the interference of his kind and judicious guardian spirit saved 
him from a most equivocal and dangerous situation, and perhaps was the 
means of preserving his life. 

The most severe blows that Spiritualism has sustained have been those 
aimed by unprincipled and avaricious mediums, who, when the manifestations 
failed to come as freely as the circumstances required, practiced imposition 
to supply the deficiency. The detection of this lamentable species of fraud 
gave occasion for the opposition to charge an universal system of trickery upon 
the spiritual ranks, while not a few of the most staunch believers themselves 
alleged that nearly all the mediums might be taxed with similarly dishonest 
practices. 

In respect to these statements it must be recollected that the mediums in 
America count by thousands, whilst those engaged before the public alone 
number several hundreds. 

The gifts of mediumship fall upon all ranks of societ}^, and all grades of 
moral and intellectual development alike. The most careful observation of 
this power and its exercise, at present, only reveals the fact that it is a phy- 
sical peculiarity of certain organizations, but that it is by no means dependent 
on moral or intellectual endowments. Hence the idea that the gift of medi- 
umship implies or creates a tendency to deception is wholly unphilosophical, 
and without foundation. Some of the most estimable and some of the most 
unscrupulous natures have become the subjects of this remarkable power. 

Highly refined and tenderly conscientious minds are to be found in the 
mediumstic ranks, whilst persons of unmistakably vicious proclivities are 
equally susceptable of the spiritual afflatus. We can but record the fact, 
without at present attempting to theorize upon its character. The whole 
difiiculty which it presents to the mind of the observer ceases, however, when 
we banish our preconceived and utterly erroneous opinions of what a medium 
between the two worlds ought to be, and simply acknowledge that which 
seems patent to the com.munion, nam.elj^, that it depends upon some elec- 
trical properties evolved from the physical organizations of favorably-en- 
dowed individuals. We must all admit that special temptations to practice 
deception, at times, overshadow the position of a medium. The scornful 
incredulity which defies them to produce phenomena ; the intense and some- 
times painfully exigeant desire of others to witness it. Their own profes- 
sional pride or the necessity which urges them to render the service promised; 
all these, together with other sources of influence peculiar to the position of 
a medium, are amply sufficient to account for fraud, without resorting to 
the far-fetched and wholly undemonstrated theory that "tricky spirits" prompt 
the imposition. We believe that no one well-proven case of this kind has 
ever occurred, whilst it is proper to add that, from a wide and carefully- 
trodden field of pbservation, the author is justified in the assertion that cases 
of deception, on the part of genuine mediums, are very few, although their 
industrious circulation by the interested world gives them vast notoriety, and 
multiplies their number ad mfiitittim. 

It was fi"oni this cause that an opinion unfavorable to the genuine charac- 



248 HISTORY OF MODERN 

ter of all the manifestations at one time gained ground amongst the high 
minded portion of the Spiritualists, producing a most painful revulsion in 
their feelings, and giving fair occasion for the jubilant cry of the opposition, 
"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." 

In the New York Conference, the tone in which the various exposures and 
"recantations" were discussed grew serious, especially when Mr. John F. 
Coles, above alluded to, a gentleman who had enjoyed a wide experience 
in Spiritualism, and been himself the subject of certain mediumistic iniluences, 
declared in unmeasured terms, his belief, that all mediums were either deluded 
or deluders, and that the whole movement was little better than a wide-spread 
humbug, or gigantic hallucination. 

To the candid and unprejudiced reader, satisfactory reasons enough could 
be assigned, why mediums should be fallible, yet spirit communion true ; 
why counterfeits should abound, yet real coin exist. In looking down 
calmly from the hill-tops of time, we may marvel that a faith founded upon 
well-tried and constanitly-recurring facts, should be disturbed by the dis- 
covery that a few mediums, out of many thousands, should be found subject 
to the ordinary failings of humanity. 

Still the faint-hearted consoled themselves by saying, that even if the phe- 
nomena v/ere unreliable, the philosophy was all-sufficient j appealing, as it 
did, to their sense of right, reason and justice, and carrying with it internal 
evidence of its sublime realities. But even here, as if the "enemy" had 
had license to sift the revelating angel like wheat, and bright, beautiful, much- 
loved Spirituahsm was destined to undergo every ordeal that human perver- 
sity could put upon it, a fresh blow was levelled from the very centre of its 
own ranks, which threatened to destroy even its foundation and corner-stone, 
the cherished philosophy on which its religious superstructure was based. 

This coup d'etat originated with a Professor and Mrs. Spence, both dis- 
tinguished members of the spiritual ranks, and persons whose inlluence was 
marked and difiusive. Mrs. Spence, as Mrs. Britt, of St. Louis, had greatly 
contributed to the success of the cause in its early stages, by her trance lec- 
tures. After her union with Prof Spence, a gentleman of marked ability as a 
physician, this lady became a highly popular and influential travelling lecturer. 

About the time when "zeal waxed cold," and the "faith of many Avas 
shaken" from the causes above detailed, Mrs. Spence and her talented hus- 
band promulgated the strange theory that a large proportion of the human 
race did not attain to the glory of immortality, and that only certain souls, 
under conditions which seemed terribly vague and unsatisfactory, survived the 
shock of death as individualized entities ; their spiritual essence being either 
absorbed in the great ocean of being, or reincarnated in some subsequent 
state of higher development, etc. It is needless in this place to consider 
the theories on which Mr. and Mrs. Spence based their opinions of non- 
immortality for a large portion of the human family : it is enough to state 
that, in view of the influence they exerted, their doctrines were received with 
profound dismay, and in some instances with agonizing despair; in fact, the 
promulgation of this most repulsive theory from a moderately authoritative 
source, would have excited much painful discussion at any time, but coming 
as it did, just when the cherished facts on which the whole spiritual super- 
structure was founded had to undergo the severe ordeal which a tide of 
recantations and exposures necessarily put upon it, it seemed to fill the cup 
of feverish doubt and incertitude to the very brim, and it might vvdth truth be 
asserted that in those days Spiritualism was "weighed in the balance;" but 
v/hether, like Belshazzar of old, it "was found wanting" or not, let the next 
chapter decide. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 249 

CHAPTER XXV. 

SPIRITUALISM ON TRIAL. 

"Those tones, that halting sound, to yoii. 
Are rot the tones I hear, 
But voices of the loved and lost. 

That meet my longing ear. 
I hear my mother's angel voice, — 
Those were the notes she sung ; 
I hear my brother's ivell-known tones. 
As once on earth they rung." 

Mks. H. B. Stowe. 

Counterfeit and Genuine Coin — "Emma Hardinge's Confession" — Un- 
solved Problems for Scientists — Mr. Albro on "the Recanters" — Liv- 
ing Spirits — Immortality vs. Annihilation. 

It is now our part to consider the effect which the various " revelations," 
"exposures," new versions of Spiritualism, etc., etc., produced upon the 
community at large, and the progress of the spiritualistic cause. We have 
noted die fact that jubilant voices Avere heard from the ranks of the oppos- 
ition proclaiming the inevitable death of "the great heresy" at the hands of 
its partisans ; also, that feelings of deep despondency and lack of confidence 
prevailed in the ranks of Spiritualism. When we remember that the cardi- 
nal points on which Spiritualism is founded are its facts, and that its whole 
aim has been the discovery and application of demonstrable truths, it seems 
strange to find one class of persons rejoicing and another lamenting over the 
threatened destruction of propositions, which, if true, could not be shaken, 
and if simply theoretical, were not worth maintaining. 

This was the ground which the author took some eight years ago, when, in 
answer to an immense flood of correspondence which was poured in upon 
her, soliciting, as a public teacher, her opinion concerning the genuine char- 
acter of the movement, she responded simply by a reference to that class of 
facts which are beyond the reach of humanity to produce or tamper with. 

Having in the lapse of time, since then, seen no occasion to change her 
views concerning the superior value of this kind of testimony over all others, 
and by way of illustrating the tone of the discussions which arose at this 
juncture, we shall republish some communications, addressed by the author 
to her numerous correspondents through the pages of- the spiritual journals. 
The first of these relates to Mr. Coles's sweeping assertion, made at the New 
York Conference, to the effect that " all spirit mediums were either deluded 
or deluders." In imitation of the popular tone of the times, the letter is 
styled 

"EISEMA HARDINGE'S CONFESSION." 

It is addressed to the editor of the Spiritual Age, and is as follows : 

" Dear Sir, — Since confessions are the fashion of the day, and a confiding public has 
been voted into the office of Father Confessor, I solicit the medium of "your columns to 
tender my ' confession,' in addition to the general sum of spiritual light, which conscience, 
or a panic in the mai^ket of anti-spiritual jugglery, is diffusing over the world. 

"I have no very startling disclosures to make; but, as I understand that modem Spu'it- 



250 HISTORY OF MODERN 

ualism is summoned to the bar of justice, to be tried for life and death, so I, as one of the 
accessories to the fact of its wilful murder upon the body of infidelity, beg to yield myself 
up as ' State's evidence' for cross-examination. 

" Our friend, the T^anner of Light, has recently undertaken to enlighten the world upon 
some of my antecedents, and as that sketch was as ample as the occasion demanded, I need 
not inflict further personal details upon your readers.* Suffice it to say that my career in 
America has been mainly enacted in some public capacity. In one way or the other, the 
whole of my time has been passed in a crowd ; and with so many eager witch-finders on 
all hands, and so many qualified witnesses to my good or bad behavior, the world need 
have no fear but that I shall soon be detected if, m this, my 'confession,' I am caught 
fibbing. 

" The first point upon which I desire to be heard, and in turn demand that the pastors 
of the nineteenth century will enlighten my darkened understanding, is the dealing which 
I had in the very outset of my career with that form of the ' imposture,' called ' physical- 
force mediumship.' To show you, Judge World, that I had all the pious proclivities that 
were necessary to defend me from infidelic tendencies, I may state that when I first visited 
a test medium in New York, I refused to sit at his table because I heard a sentence spelled 
out which I fancied was somehow not in exact conformity with the Bible. 

" For many weeks after this, I heard of the ' spirit rappings ' with a horror so pious 
that nothing but the hope that my excessive shrewdness would enable me to find out what 
was a mystery to thousands of my better-informed fellow-mortals, would have induced me 
to inquii'e further. ' For the sake of the cause of truth,' and with a fixed determination 
to 'expose this infidelic fraud,' I accompanied Mr. Augustus Fenno, the well-known come- 
dian, to the house of Mrs. Coan, the 'i^apping medium.' 

" The first act of the farce I there witnessed consisted of loud rappings, a phenomenon 
which, being performed on the table, I concluded could not have been produced by Mrs. 
Coan's ankle-joints, which were quietly reposing beneath it. 

" My part in the drama was to turn the table suddenly over, examine its under side for 
springs, which failing to detect, I impertinently transferred my scrutiny to Mrs. Coan's 
hands, during which vain process the raps began vibrating beneath my own feet. Whilst 
engaged in a rigid search for the ' springs' concealed in the carpet, the pertmacious raps 
knocked the idea of floor machinery out of my mind by drumming on the wall quite six 
feet from any of our party. 

" We were but three of us; and fairly aghast at the evident absence of human agency in 
.he production of these locomotive sounds, I sank into a chair, from which I was instantly 
aroused by vigorous poundings on the back rail, close against my very shoulders. All this 
while, Mrs. Coan and Mr. Fenno, instead of being covertly engaged in working hidden 
machinery, were coolly talking to each other without evidencing the least interest in my 
unquiet investigations. Being informed that the raps would obey my mental request and 
sound anywhere I wished, I silently desired that they might be produced in a distant corner 
of the room. An instant compliance with this unspoken thought dissipated all my precon- 
ceived theories of 'ankle-joints,' 'carpet-machinery,' or 'table-springs.' Besides, there 
was intelligence here — intelligence that could read and answer my mind. 

"That mind could not, of course, begin to aspire to the sublime heights attained by a 
Faraday or Agassiz, but having just wit enough to put two and two together, it at once 
perceived that these great men's theories did not quite fit the case at issue. The next act 
of the rapping humbug was to hold intelligible conversation tlirough a sort of telegraphy, 
by which, as it seemed, my friend Mr. Fenno was informed that I was a 'fine medium' — 
an announcement I received with the most intense disgust. Hereupon Mrs. Coan handed 
me an alphabet, and having shown me how to point to the various letters, whilst the 
knocks would indicate the special one required, I found spelled out, to my astonishment, 
not the names of any of the near and dear relatives of whom m such a scene I was most 

* Emma Hardinge's Biography, by Dr. A. B. Child. — Banner of Light. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 251 

naturally thinking, but the Christian and surname of an acquaintance who had not even 
entered my head. 

•' Whose mind was read in this instance I am unable to say, save and except that it was 
not mme, whilst neither of my companions had ever heard of such a person before. In tha 
absence of any visible agent for this intelligence, I was fain to conclude that the atmosphere 
was the delinquent, and it is m the earnest hope that some of the learned professors who 
hiow ' Spiritualism is all humbug,' and the recanters and exposers who say ditto, will 
enlighten me, that I have ventured to detail what would appear far too peurile to notice 
did it not so happen that neither ' ankle joints,' ' machmery,' nor ' mind readmg,' will cover 
this very trivial case. Where is the theory that will ? Echo answers, ' Where ? ' 

" I could detail thousands of more remarkable manifestations, and thousands of investi- 
gators could exceed me in marvellous relations, but I purposely confine myself to facts, no 
matter how simple they may be, for which, as yet, no explanation has been offered, and 
which no theory, as yet promulgated, can cover. And yet I have a soul to be saved. 
Will no divine professor of logic, or doctor of humbug, show me how to account for ex- 
actly such a case as this ? No side isuses will do. I can prove the truth of what I narrate, 
and the explanation must cover the truth or it wont suffice. 

"I pass over many months of similar experiences closely followed up, and beg to select, 
out of hundreds of far more startling occurrences, a transaction with Dr. Redman, equally 
out of the pale of popular explanations. 

"At a circle with sixteen persons, all living, producible, and reliable witnesses, all entire 
strangers to myself and Dr. Redman, himself a stranger to me, I, with others, wrote names 
of spirit friends on some dozen slips of paper, and then rolled them up into pellets so tightly 
that if my life had depended on it I could not have told one from the other. When all the 
party had ma-^,e similar pellets, we threw them, by the direction of Dr. Redman, into a 
large confused heap, together, on the table. The number of pellets thus indiscriminately 
piled up must have amounted to over a hundred. These Dr. Redman gathered up into 
his hand, and then rolled them upon my hand, rolling away one after another until there 
only remained between our two hands one pellet ; this, he informed me, was mine, and in 
proof thereof he desired me to put it aside. I did so, when the raps spelled out by the 
alphabet a name which I recognized as one I had wiutten. On opening my pellet in pres- 
ence of the whole company, there was my own handwriting, -and the name just spelled out 
by the rapping imposture aforesaid. 

" This is another case for which my waiting soul demands an exact explanation, especi- 
ally as it is one which fits the case of thousands of other deluded ones besides myself. 
Passing over manifold similarly unexplained problems occurring in my daily experience of 
Spiritualism, I proceed to notice some of the ' tricks ' practiced upon me by Mrs. Brown, 
of the Fox family. I shall only notice ths least of this lady' s performances, hoping that a 
clue once afforded to the 'small impositions,' the large ones, like the large impostors of 
the day, will collapse, of their own accord, of spontaneous combustion. 

" For many Sunday evenings I was in the habit of forming one of a friendly circle at 
Mrs. Brown' s house. We had tea; tea-table raps, and nothing to pay; and as the ordi- 
nary motive to imposition in the world's eyes, namely, gain, was out of the question — nay, 
as pastime, rather than any kind of business was the order of the day, I must presume that 
Mrs. Bro%vn's 'trickeiy' on such occasions, being entirely gratuitous, proceeded from an 
irresistible and chronic tendency in her to trick. On one of these same ' evenings at home,' 
we all sat after tea singing, whilst the ' imposture ' rapped, sometunes in one place, some- 
times in another, sometimes five or six 'ankle joints' all going at once, in tones, too, so 
various, that Mrs. Brown's anldes must have been a perfect orchestra in themselves. 

*' At last the signal was given for the alphabet, when a single knocker, in tones as loud as 
those produced by a carpenter's hammer, spelled out the request that we should darken the 
room : we obeyed by extinguishing the gas, but still the fire gave sufficient light to reveal 
every form in the room and disclose the whole party with all their hands joined and spread 
out before them on the table ; and then it was that I felt a large and heavy hand on mj 



252 HISTORY OF MODERJSr 

shoulder, evidently placed there from some one behind me. The room was small, the door 
fast; Mrs. Brown's hands held by myself and another person, and my other neighbor's 
hand in mine and his neighbor's. The space behind me was empty ; but in order to try if 
there was intelligence directing that invisible grasp, I mentally requested that the hand 
should stroke my head, when instantly a warm, soft, though large hand gently patted my 
forehead and stroked each side of my face. Gideon-like, requiring a still further test, I 
again mentally requested that the hand should touch my mother, who was sitting at the lur- 
ther end of our long table. ' Good heavens ! there is a hand laid upon my head,' \Utered by 
mamma the very moment after framing this unspoken wish, convinced me that if ankle 
joints were the originators of the Rochester knockings, their action in the persons of the 
Fox family were, of all the world's phenonmena, the most marvellous, omnipi-esent, loco- 
motive, independent, and intelligent. I am not going to weary your readers, Mr. Editor, 
by recounting details with which every visitor to Mrs. Leah Brown must be familiar. I 
have simply noticed one of the as yet undetected and unaccounted-for ' tricks,' which are so 
frequently enacted in her presence, and hereby give notice that there are a very large num- 
ber of still more cunning ' Fox tricks ' to be accounted for, before I, for one, am prepared 
to sign a full recantation of my spiritualistic faith in that family. 

" With a long hiatus in my experience filled up with tremendous hard nuts for science to 
crack, I beg to suggest another subject for the philanthropic labors of the exposing medi- 
ums of the day, and one which has also remained untouched save by the rather illogical 
argument of senseless abuse. I speak of Mr. J. V. Mansfield's faculty of answering sealed 
letters. True it is, that I have been told upon the highly creditable authority of Professor 
Felton, of Harvard College, that heknov/s — without the least proof of the fact, great savan 
as he is! — that Mr. Mansfield first 'opens all the letters he answers, and then cunningly seals 
them up again ; ' whilst others, who have seen the spirit postmaster answer letters correctly 
which have never even passed out of the investigator's hands, know upon authority equally 
good as Professor Felton's that the said postmaster answers the said letters all by aid 
of clairvoyance; ' first clairvoyantly reading them and then answering them out of his own 
mind.' Without stopping to consider whether clairvoyance is not as wonderful a phenome- 
non as any fact claimed in Spiritualism, I must inquire of the last set of sages, how it hap- 
pened that Mr. Mansfield made so egregious a blunder in my case as to answer a letter, 
which I addressed to my father in the spirit-world, in the name of a sister whom I had not 
asked for or even mentioned in the letter ? As the said letter never passed out of my 
hands, and Mr. Mansfield answered it whilst I held it. Professor Felton's theory fails; 
whilst the fact of my being an entire stranger to Mr. Mansfield, and above all, my sister's 
name neither being mentioned in the letter or at the time in my mind, militates rather 
awkwardly against the clairvoyant theory ; besides, this wonderful ' clairvoyant ' has been 
known to mention scores of names that have never been asked for in sealed letters ; to WTrite 
moreover in German, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Greek, Plebrew, and even Chinese, and 
that without, as his most intimate friends can testify, the slightest knowledge of any other 
language than his own. Come, noble army of recanters ! bring up your rear guard of 
tricks, to account for these ugly facts ! ... As my inquiry from the beginning to the 
end of my career has been for 'the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,' I 
have spelt out my lesson with almost every medium of the day, and could enumerate a 
thousand problems which the poor short-sighted exposers have never even touched, did 
time and space permit ; but as these are limited, I must confine myself to the consideration 
of one more case, which common justice requires should receive its share of illumination 
with the rest, and that, Mr. Editor, is my unworthy self. 

"Mr. Coles is represented in the SpiriUial Telegraph as having said at the New York 
Conference that every trance medium is an impostor, and every other kind of medium, 
something of the same order. Mr. Coles is a gentleman with whom I enjoy a very agree- 
able acquaintance ; but if he means to say that all persons who communicate an intclli<;ence 
beyond their own knowledge are 'impostors,' then I, as one of that class, affirm that I\Ir. 
Coles tells an untruth. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 253 

"At the very earliest stage of my investigations, I found I was, and always had been a 
• sj irit medium ;' that is, that I could communicate, by vai'ious methods, intelligence I had 
net learned, and give tests of the presence of spirits [unknown to me] to strangers. 

' ' My spirit friends, or the imposture that calls itself spirits, affectionately charged upon 
me their wish, that I should sit for the public, and give tests freely to all who sought me ; 
yet [for reasons which were satisfactory to my judgment, the chief of which was that I had 
other means of living besides my mediumship] that I should never receive fee or reward for my 
services in this direction. They wished me to make a profession of my lectures, but considered 
that my mediumship in other respects was uncertain, and only necessary to prepare me for 
becoming a lecturer. With this understanding I set to work, and that so successfully, that 
with no other contrivance of my own than mere passivity, and waiting for some unknown 
and invisible ' impostor ' to dictate what I should say, see, or WTite, I managed to convince 
hundreds of strangei-s, who flocked to my circle room at 553 Broadway, of the presence and 
identity of their spirit friends. The evidences of this nature, as they were given by writing, 
seeing, and pantomimic action, are all out of the reach of 'ankle-joints' or 'machinery' 
theories, but although I am unwilling to enter into personal details, I give notice that there 
are hundreds of living and producible witnesses to my asseverations, and that sooner than 
consent to be unjustly branded as an 'impostor,' I shall compel a retraction of such an 
assertion at the risk of being deemed egotistical, by taking advantage of the many gi-ateful 
offers that pour in upon me, to bear testimony to the genuine character of my mediumship. 
Amongst an immense variety of tests given, as I have stated, to hundreds of producible wit- 
nesses, I shall cite but one in illustration of the spontaneity of spiritual influence, and the 
impossibility of sneering away its facts on the baseless charge of imiversal deception. 
During my last visit to Boston, my friends observing my passionate love for flowers, kindly 
adorned my platform with sweet floral offerings, which I as regularly transferred to the dear 
friend I was visiting, in order that she might carry them to the grave of a sweet little girl 
who had passed away in the spring, and after whose earthly form the poor mother's eyes 
still yearned. One night I returned from my lecture at the Melodeon with a lovely wreath 
and a large bouquet. The arrangement of the flowers was somewhat injured in the carriage, 
and I gave them, as usual, to my dear hostess, to carry to the cemeterj'. The next day, 
when the mother was about to depart with her prize, she sent her maid into the garden to 
gather two large dahlias which she placed in the wreath, and a very small one with which 
she renovated the bouquet. I had never visited the grave myself, and had no idea how the 
flowers were to be placed. The next evening I was dressing to lecture at the Music Hall, 
when, just as I was about to quit my room, the bright spirit of the child stood in my path 
and besought me in her sweet, winning way to give a message to her mother. 

" I have seen spirits from my earliest childhood, had often before seen this fair little 
apparition, and did not question but that her mother would place perfect reliance on my 
report ; but as the message contained no particular test, and it has always been my custom to 
require tests both for myself and others I said, ' You must tell me something, Nannie, that 
will convince your mother you have really appeared to me.' 'You shall have such a sweet 
nosegay to-night at your lecture, Emma,' said the fair spirit, 'and that shall be a test.' 
' Not enough Nannie,' I replied ; ' I often have bouquets ; that will be no test.' 

"'Tell mother,' answered the bright spirit, 'I saw the angel she put on my grave, 
whose wings fan away evil spirits; also tell her, the two large flowers she put into the 
wreath yesterday from her garden are gone, but the small one is stiU there, in the bouquet 
— now remember. ' 

"I hastened to my lecture, on to the rostrum, and there lay test the first, a 'sweet 
nosegay.' The reporter of the Boston Cotirier, in a critique on my lecture more honorable 
to Iiis gallantry as a gentleman than philosophical as a scientist, remarked, with some humor- 
ous attempts to account for my 'inspiration,' that I 'looked lovingly at the splendid bou- 
quet.' WeU I might ! Ah, Monsieur Boston Coia-ier ! could you have known the happy 
thoughts that those flowers called forth, you would not have wondered at my loving look. 
I thought of the poor mother, whose faith that her darling was not sleeping in the cold 



2 54 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

gi-ound might be strengthened through the intelligence connected with those flowers. I 
thought too of the rest of that mysterious little communication, but as I thought and 
wondered if it would prove true, no effort upon my part could shut ov.t from my mind a 
memory of my old calling, the stage, and the oft -quoted phrase of the Danish Hamlet, ' Rly 
life upon the ghost ! ' The next day, when the bouquet which I had presented to my friend 
was about to be transferred by her once more to the cemetery, I rather hesitatingly told 
her I thought she might possibly find some disturbance amongst the flowers. Being 
urgently pressed for an explanation, I i-ecounted to her the vision above narrated, when 
my friend responded, ' On my way to the cemetery yesterday, I bought and placed o» 
the grave a little china image of an angel, with wings extended, which seemed to be hovering, 
to my morbid fancy, over the hallowed dust of my child. As to the flowers, I know all 
about the disturbance; for when arranging them on the gi-ave I thought the large, flaunting 
dahlias looked out of place, so I took them out of the wreath myself. The smaller one, 
being less intrusive in the bouquet, I suffered to remain. It is all true ; and, Emma, I 
now know my child must have seen me, for not another living creature could be aware of 
either circumstance.' 

" And now, if I may seem very puerile in making the casual arrangement of a bouquet, 
and the appearance of a little paltry china image, evidences for the immortality of a precious 
human soul, why then I am willing to plead guilty to the charge ; but as I know china im- 
ages cannot come to describe themselves to me, and bouquets do not arrange themselves or 
come and tell me when they are disarranged, I conclude I am no wiser nor yet much more 
foolish than Isaac Newton was, when he made an insignificant apple the corner-stone of 
the world's grandest philosophy 

" One word more, and with it my final apologies for this long detail. I have never 
avowed myself a trance speaker, because I am not entirely unconscious ; and yet, when ques- 
tioned what definition I should give to my ability to speak upon any subject committees 
may choose for me, without a moment's premeditation, I should be absolutely dishonest if 
I did not acknowledge that the whole of my lectures are obviously, to myself, uttered with- 
out thought or volition of my own, and clearly prompted by some attendant intelligences, 
who, also, to myself as well as to the eyes of many of the most reliable seers, present the un- 
mistakable characteristics of a risen, spiritual, and glorified humanity. 

' ' Besides this, I have seen, conversed with, and described hundreds of spirits whose iden- 
tity and continued existence was thus clearly proved to their mourning relatives. 

" There is, moreover, a voice ever present with me, cheering me in sorrow, prescribing 
for me in sickness, encouraging me on long, weary journeys, advising me in all my engage- 
ments, revealing hidden characters, and counselling me in nearly all and every emergency of 
life. 

" This voice has warned me in danger, brought me news of absent friends, and rebuked 
me when I deserved it, not the least frequent manifestation, by the by, of my ' demon's ' 
presence. To one of the most popular of the New York ministers, who infonned me that 
Spiritualism was ' a most dangerous delusion,' I stated my case, and earnestly implored him 
to point out the nature of the danger; but though the reverend divine was a minister to the 
people, and I reminded him that I was one of the people, and one too that was leading away 
many souls to my way of thinking, he left me with the cold assurance that it was not in his 
way to deal with 'the thing,' and that it was none of his business — he only warned me, 
etc., Just so with my friends, the 'recanters.' The divine exposed his own unchristian 
neglect of duty, but convicted me of — nothing. 

"The 'recanters' prove themselves to be rogues and cheats, but touch nobody else's 
case ; whilst for my own part, I can truly say I have tested this matter in every form and 
shape ; and, let it come from whence it may, I own, with gi-ateful thanks to God for its man- 
ifestations, that it has made me a better and a happier woman than I have ever been before. 

"If money or public applause were my object, I have two professions, — the stage and mu- 
sic, — in either of which I am a proficient, and could treble my present eai-nings, besides ex- 
changing celebrity for notoriety, ease for fatigue, and adulation for libaldry, scorn and perse- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISE. 255 

ciition ; bnt as all the world' s gifts would fail to replace, to my mind, the full cup of joy and 
compensation which I have tasted in Spiritualism, I must await personal conviction, derived 
from facts as stubborn as those upon which my faith is founded, before I am prepared to ad 
mit as error that which personal experience has assured me to be invincible truth. 
"I am, dear Mr. Editor, yours very truly, 

"A soul waiting to be saved, 

"Emma Hakdinge." 

Amongst the numerous letters, essays, and other forms of affirmative phil- 
osophy which the "recantation movement" called forth in vast abundance 
from the noblest minds in the spiritual ranks, we select the only additional 
one which our space will allow us to print, from the pen of Stephen Albro, 
Esq., the highly-respected editor of the Buftalo Age of Progress. 

Mr. Albro' s letter is addressed to a gentleman whose faith had been rudely 
shaken, it would seem, by the discovery of a great deception in the cause so 
near to his heart — Spiritualism. In the doubt and incertitude of mind thus 
awakened, he wisely came to the conclusion to take advantage of the long 
experience and highly philosophical opinions of Mr. Albro, than whom no 
more truthful, candid, or enlightened adviser could be found in any emer- 
gency, especially in the one under consideration, as the reader will be able 
to determine from a perusal of the following extracts of Mr, Albro' s corres- 
pondence, as published in the Age of Progress : 

" Tp BIr. Simmons, of New York: 

" Esteemed Friend and Brother, — I am both pained and gratified by that portion 

of your letter which refers to an unfortunate class of professing Spiritualists. 

"It pains me to hear that the eternal truths of the spiritual Gospel that the angels have 
brought us are not sufficiently established in your mind to prevent its being swayed to and 
fro by the fitful puffs of inharmony which issue from the lungs of unsuccessful traffickers in 
the spiritual philosophy 

" Before proceeding any further, I will give you a direct answer as to the effect upon my 
mmd which has been produced by the * exposures' you refer to. 

" They have admonished me that Spiritualism has more to fear from unsound advocates 
than from the most rabid of its opponents ; and even from these there is nothing to appre- 
hend as regards the final sweep of the spiritual philosophy througliout the world, only they 
are stumbling-blocks in the way of honest but timid investigation, and tend somewhat to 
retard the spread of celestial truth in the realm of terrestrial intelligence. 

"Your mind has been disturbed by the croaking voices who attribute the loss of their 
faith to frauds committed by pedlers of pretended spiritual manifestations. You have 
heard of ' exposures ' and ' recantations ' from those who publish their own shame by show- 
ing how they them.selves practiced the frauds which they are exposing, and you are at a loss 
to decide for yourself whether they were greater rogues and liai-s when they committed the 
frauds or when they confessed them. The safe position in such a case is to give them 
credit for what they really and continually report themselves to have been on the occasions 
alluded to in their confessions. 

" I shall not pretend to deny, nay, I know, that there are many itinerant mountebanks 
who perambulate the country under the pretence of being spiritual media, for the purpose 
of defrauding the unwary of their dimes. And what does this fact amount to ? Nothing 
but the evidence that every genuine and valuable product of nature, art, or science, is 
counteracted for the purpose of administering to the insatiable spirit of avarice. 

"Those physical manifestations which our spirit friends have found it expedient to prac- 
tice, for the purpose of startling scepticism and awakening conviction of their presence, 
have become so interesting and attractive that they have naturally suggested to the unprin- 
cipled the practicability of making capital out of their imitation. Hence the many perform- 
ances of mock manifestations by which the country is infested, and hence the'evidences ad- 
duced by ' recanters ' to prove that there are no genuine manifestations 

" There is one phase of spiritual phenomena which is peculiarly favorable to the success 
of mountebank imitations ; these are the physical operations by spirits which cannot be 
performed in lighted rooms because the light is an absorbent or disturber of those electricaJ 



256 HISTORY OF MODERN 

forces which are essential for tlie production of the manifestations in question. ... 
It has been observed that when heavy bodies have been suspended in the air, 01 moved 
about with immense force in tlie dark, tlie introduction of liglit instantly stops tlie opera 

tion, often causing tiae floating mass to fall to the floor in a second And 

these circumstances, as above hinted, have opened up a wide field for the operations of 
those unprincipled tricksters who feed upon the unwary and those who are too ingenuous 
themselves to suspect treachery in others. And in many instances adventurers in this 
ignoble field of enterprise have associated with them genuine mediums as unscrupulous and 
immoral as themselves ; knaves, wlio are ready, for liire, to enter into a league witli knaves 
and prostitute God's noblest gift to man for the sake of unhallowed gain. 

" And besides these there are not a few veritable mediums who might render invaluable 
service to the cause of truth and demonstrate by their high gifts the glorious fact of immor- 
tality, yet who, being themselves destitute of all conscientious scruples, when conditions will 
not allow spirits to manifest through them — as must often be the case with all mediums — 
do not hesitate to carry out the advertised or expected programme by fraudulent devices 
of their own, held by them in reserve for such occasions, and performed with such art as to 

render detection difficult And the most despicable of all apologies by which 

such impious tricksters attempt to excuse their guilt is the disavowal, when detected, of any 
fraudulent design on their own part, and the crimination of a spirit ; stoutly and persistently 
averring that the deception was practiced under spirit influence and control. * .... 
Every ' exposer ' of whom I have had personal knowledge, has been for years past a pro- 
fessed propagandist of the spiritual philosophy, and a practical speculator in the phenomena. 
Think you these recanters would have become such at this day if their labors in the service 
of ministering angels had met the pectiniary returns which prompted that sei'vice ! 

"I tell you nay; for the whole genus 'speculator,' by common instinct, will think well 
of and endeavor by every means to protect that traffic by which the greater amount of 
gain can be made. And thus it happens that most of the present exposers of the • spiritual 
humbug ' are persons who have failed to make its advocacy a paying vocation, and are now 
endeavoring to mend their fortunes by exhibiting to the scoffers at Spiritualism the manner 
in wlrich they fonnerly practiced and imposed upon the public with ' bogus ' manifestations. 

" Marryat, in one of Ifis novels, tells of a gin-drinking mother who took fire and was 
reduced to cinders by inhaling the flame of a candle ; and he also tells of the son of that 
motlier, who gathered together Iter charred remains, and exhibited them to the public for a 
penny a sight, recounting at each exhibition the cause and manner of his mother's decease. 
Which is the most respectable, think you, Marryat's hero, or the charlatan who peddles 
counterfeit imitations of communion witli the spirits of the dead, and then exposes his own 
villany for a dime? If you find the question difficult to decide, I confess my inability to 
help you My course of investigation has resulted in the following conclu- 
sions. As respects mediums in general, and spiritual communicationsin their present status, 
I confess there is much to complain of, regret, and wonder at; but stiil more to stimulate us 
to further inquiry, rejoice over, and thank God for. ..... But those who look 

more deeply into tlie philosophy of Spiritualism are not surprised at this. They see at once 
that the mundane and supra-mundane spirits are congenial in their natures, and equal in 
development. 

The undeveloped mortal attracts to himself associates from the spirit-world of a like nature, 
and these are as capable of mastering the science of the communion as those of superior mental 
and moral characteristics. But even in the darkest features of this case there is light, and 
some good resulting even from the communications of false and untruthful spirits. No one 
will deny that a man is a man because he tells a falsehood, neither can lie deny that a spirit 
is such because he wilfully or ignorantly perverts the truth. And again ; the falsehood of the 
communicating spirits proves the great philosophical truth that death makes little or no 
change in the soul, and that the spirit, whether of the false or true, was and is tlic real man. 

"That there are many mediums of most estimable character, and manifestations in abun- 
dance which can be relied on, all industrious investigators will affirm; but whether all com- 
munications are equally true or not is another question, and one which only long experience 

and careful observation can decide Good and truthful spirits often disagi-ee, 

and contradict each other in their opinions, just as surely as do spirits still incarnate in mor- 
tality ; and for this disagreement in spirit communications, the true remedy is the exercise of 
human reason and the sovereignty of individual judgments." 

_ After pursuing the above line of argument at great length, and illustrating 
his affirmations by the recital of numerous excellent tee ts of spirit identity, 

* The author apologizes for some liberties used in shearing superfluous phrases from the talented editor's 
original letter, for the sake of brevity. 



AMERICAlSr SPIRITUALISM. 257 

Wx. Albro sums up Avith several highly interesting narratives of interviews 
with spirits. Our limits will onl}^ permit usto cite one of these, which occurred 
through the mediumship of Dr. Redman, and is related by Mr. Albro, as fol- 
lows : « 

"A gentleman who resides in this city [BuiTalo], but who has not authorized me to give his 
name, called at Mr. Redman's room last Sunday for the purpose of introducing a friend who 
vras visiting him. Besides this friend, a brother of the gentleman first named was present. 

"This brother was an inveterate sceptic, and decidedly opposed to Spiritualism. He 
called with the others for curiosity, but refused to sit at the table for investigation. 

"The spiriis, however, requested 'all pi^esent ' to be seated at the table. The sceptic at 
length complied, when the spirit of a deceased brother who had departed this life in England 
at the age of seventeen years, addressed him, writing through the hand of the medium back- 
wards, giving many proofs of his identity and signing his name in fnll. 

"The sceptical gentleman then asked the spirit if he could tell themanner of his death, to 
which the spirit answered by affirmative raps, when the hand of the medium was immediately 
used to make numerical characters, as follows : 

"9 23 I 19 19 13 15 20 8 5 iS 5 4 9 14 20 8 5 5 I 18 
20 8 4 5 I 18 2 18 15 20 8 5 18. 

"What the meaning of these figures could be no one present could divine, till direction 
was given by the spirit through the raps to place niunericals over the letters of the alphabet 
thus: ^^ I c and so on, up to ^^ when the figures read: ' I was smothered in the earth, dear 
brother. ' 

" The fact thus tmiquely represented was strictly true, the two brothers stating that he, 
the spirit, and another lad were at play in a sand-hole, the projecting bank of which caved 
in and suffocated him before he could be extricated. 

" This test proved too strong for the sceptic, whose tears bore witness to the strength of 
his conviction. 

"Truly and fraternally yours, S. Albp.o." 

It will be remembered that we mentioned the promulgation, by Prof, and 
Mrs. Spence, of the non-immortality theory for a large proportion of the 
race. During the numerous discussions which ensued upon the enuncia- 
tion of this very startling doctrine, some of its opponents pressed strenuously 
for a definition of such conditions as the promulgators assumed to be nec- 
essary for continued existence, when, being driven to some extremity, and 
compelled to make their propositions as clear as the dark features of the 
belief would permit, the)'- suggested an opinion that few, if any, souls 
maintained their individuality after death, unless they lived out their rudimental 
existence in the earth-form, for at least seventy years. 

Considering that the average rate of all human life upon this globe is esti- 
mated by the most accomplished philosophers to range at about forty years, 
the prospect of a very abundant crop of souls in the spirit spheres became, 
under this hypothesis, remarkably slender, and as this theory cut at the very 
root of the tree of hope for bereaved parents, nine-tenths of whom the same 
general calculations assume must see their brightest blossoms untimely 
nipped in the bud, the promulgation of such a doctrine became, in the spirit- 
ual ranks, tantamount to the dissemination of the principles advocated by 
the French encyclopedists of 1793. 

The most remarkable feature of the discussions evoked by this kind of 
teaching was the universal resort to the old-fashioned method of proving 
religious problems : namely, by theoretical philosophy. 

In such a warfare then, as in all former times, nothing was proved, and 
everything became assertion merely, or opinions utterly valueless, because 
based upon theories undemonstrated by the facts which form the very corner- 
stone of the truly spiritual philosophy. Weary alike of the hair-splitting ver- 
biage, which crowded the spiritual journals, and the pathetic appeals which 
17 



258 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

poured in upon the mediums from bereaved parents, Avhose nevv-ly-born hopes 
of eternal Hfe and unbroken progress, this remorseless theory crushed into 
annihiliation, the author brought all the influence she possessed amongst her 
spiritual friends, to bear upon her own customary method of "proving all 
things " before holding fast aught that could be called " good." To do this, 
she reminded her friends that Spiritualism afforded a field of operative facts, 
occupying three millions of square miles, and involving the experiences of 
from five to seven millions of persons ; and as such methods of dealing with 
the hitherto shadowy propositions of religious belief must eventually supersede 
all others, it may not be amiss to reprint one of the communications in ad- 
vocacy of this course, addressed by the author to the Banner of Light 
towards the conclusion of the "non-immortality" discussion. It was 
styled : 

"EMMA HARDINGE ON LIVING SPIRITS AND DYING SPIRITUALISM. 

•'RiESSRS. Editors, — Observing a general feeling of antipathy towards the repulsive 
subject of non-immortaliiy, as recently discussed in your paper, I should not intrude any 
furthei remarlcs upon your r^.aders concerning a theme so unacceptable, had I not noticed the 
singular absence of that peci.diar kind of testimony which is more calculated to rebut ground- 
less theories than all that reason an 1 logic can adduce, namely, facts. When it is remem- 
bered that in this nineteenth centiry, thousands of the noblest minds of the age were 
professed materialists, and that within ten years a few stubborn facts alone have brought 
to them a conviction of the soul's immortality, which not all the theoretical teachings of 
religion could produce, it seems somewhat remarkable that your numerous correspondents 
should waste their time, and youi readers' patience over columns of theory, which one single 
well-attested fact would confirm or disprove in toto. 

"Did we desire to learn aught concerning the Arctic or Antarctic regions, the centre of 
Africa, or the Steppes of Siberia, irom whom would your correspondent expect to obtain 
the most reliable information — the fire-side philosophers who sit at home, and do all their 
geography, geology, and natural history on paper, covered with theories of what they deem 
those unknowm realms ought to be, or the bold adventurers who have penetrated into the 
heart of the mystery, and taken living cognizance of the scenes they describe ? 

"And why do we not apply these self-evident propositions to the dwellers in the spirit 
country, and the theorists who pretend to determine the nature of that terj-a incognita out 

of their own imagmings With such evidences of total failure in merely 

theoretical beliefs as the present day affords us, it seems to me astonishing that the simply 
theoretical principles of this hideous ' non-immortality ' doctrine should engage the attention 
of Spiritualists to the total exclusion of those facts upon the strength of which they have 
become Spiritualists at all. If I can put faith in any of my senses, they assure me as con- 
clusively of the truth of spirit communion as of the -existence of any ordinary objects of 
sense ; and if I believe in one class of facts ranging under the general appellation of spirit 
communion, how am I to separate them from another class, equally rife with proof and 
demonstration of the existence of all, instead of a part of the race ? For example, if I have 
the conclusive evidence that I am communing, now with my grandsire of eighty years, and 
now with my child of eight, upon what h}'pothesis am I to believe that the grandfather 
lives and the child is a myth, or that the one communication is true and the other — con- 
ditions being exactly similar — is false? 

" By way of illustration, I shall select a few cases, which are about as well attested as any 
that the spiritualistic movement can offer : 

"In Greensboro', Henry County, Indiana, lives a noble and venerable gentleman, well 
known throughout the country as Mr. Seth liinshaw. In his house are a large collect'on 
of portraits of deceased persons drawn by Mr. George Walcutt, a spirit artist of Columbus, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 259 

Ohio, who, himself an entire stranger to my respected friend Mr. Hinshaw, executed them 
with a fidelity so marvellous, that they ai-e recognized by the whole famUy and every neigh- 
bor who chanced to be acquainted with the o^ginals. Most of these pictures were drawn 
blindfolded; some of them before Mr. Hinsliaw sent to request them, and all contain 
special tokens of personal identity wliich cannot be mistaken. 

" A very interesting account of these portraits — nineteen in number — is to be foimd in a 
recent issue of the Spiritual Telegraph, wi-itten from INIr. Hinshaw's residence by Mr. 
Giles Stebbins. Now, amongst the pictures are not only a wife, young daughter, sons, 
and other household jewels, whose beloved and well-remembered features are inimitably 
preserved, but there are also a pair of twins represented in the pride of youthful adoles- 
cence, but who never showed signs of life, and in giving birth to whom the mother died. 
If the mother's semblance is so perfect, and the stranger artist could give the test evidence 
of the birth at all of those twins, where is the proof that their representation as livmg 
immortal dwellers in the spheres is a falsehood or mistake * 

" Those who deny the existence of these children, their appearance to a total stranger, for 
sittings, their correspondence — as growing girls — in age to what they might have been had 
they lived on earth, must also invalidate the manifestation of the spirit mother herself, who 
appeared to the same artist with them, and whose portrait, then and there executed, is 
pronounced to be a ' most faithful likeness ' by all who knew her. 

" Mr. Stebbins's record goes on to say : 

"Also three sons of present wife, Abigail Hinshaw, one stiU-bom, etc. 

"And these are no mere phantoms, or dead, 'imperfect' infants, good people, who 
are so anxious to snuff out other people's children — your own, of course, bemg in the full 
glorj' of immortality — but real, living, gi-o\\-ing boys and girls of different ages, all and each 
being just at the stage of maturity which might be expected from them. 

" Besides these, there is a goodly array of sweet young grandchildren, removed at differ- 
ent periods of extreme youth, but obstinately persisting in living, although not seventy years 
of age, and retaining a family likeness to their parents and to each other, and proving that, 
thougli by virtue of the said ' non-immortality ' theory, they ought by this time to be 
little puffs of hydrogen or nitrogen gas, or used up perhaps, according to the French rein- 
carnation theory, in the material of somebody else's 'progressed' baby — yet in God's 
good providence, that they are still themselves, and that the glorious function of individual- 
ized being, however rudimental, having been once achieved, retrogression is impossible, and 
the germ soul ultimates its Creator's highest design here or hereafter, but never mars or 
breaks the plan by that loss of individuality which implies annihilation. 

"One of my earliest experiences as a test medium in. New York was to present to a lady 
who called upon me, a perfect sceptic, descriptions and tests of the identity of two 
deceased relatives, in such striking and vivid characters that conviction became irre- 
sistible. 

"Just as the lady was taking leave of me in considerable agitation of mind, I became 
impelled to ^^Tite her a communication purporting to come from a daughter, who, imlike 
the other spirits, gave no name. 

"Mrs. B. replied, there must be some mistake, as she had never had a daughter. Still the 
spirit insisted, and finally reminded the mother of the birth of a still-born female child, with 
whom she" identified herself by stating accurately, dates and certain remarkable circum- 
stances, which proved to the lady even more astonishing tests than any which had preceded 
them. 

" On another occasion a spirit, appearing as a girl of about eighteen, and beautiful as a 
seraph, manifested her presence and claimed to be the daughter of a lady for whom I was 
then sitting, but who denied having had any such child untO. the fair spiidt remmded her 

* The author has herself inspected these portraits ; heard tlieir history from the lips of the venerable Seth 
Hinshaw, now a dweller in the bright homes of immortality, and received from his amiable daughter two of 
the pencil sketches, namely, Hannah, first wife of Seth Hinshaw, and one of the above-name(? 
daughters. 



26o HISTORY OF MODERN 

that she had only lived on earth a few hours, and in the little box in which the poor remains 
had Ijeen put away, was a certain piece of delicate muslin wrapped around the form, Mhich 
the spirit described most gi'aphically. This manifestation is strongly imprinted on my mmd ; 
first, from the beauty of the fair apparition, and next from the regret she ex^jressed tliat 
the cold mother felt no interest in a child whose birth she acknowledged, but wliom, as she 
said, she 'had never known, and therefore could not possibly feel any love for.' .... 

"I could go on enumerating scores of instances in which young infants, and sometimes 
even embryotic births, were declared by spirits manifesting, under the strongest test condi- 
tions, to be the germ of their own individualized and unquenchable immortality. Enough 
for me to add that quite two-thirds of my experiences as a test medium included communi- 
cations from spirits who had left the form under twenty years of age ; in fact, in our present 
imperfect understanding of tlie laws of health, it is evident that the chief of the soul frei^^ht 
tliat crosses the 'beautiful river,' are the youngest and fairest of earth's blossoms, and if 
these are changed, even to annihilation, then is creation a failure and spirit-land a desert to 
whifh the blooming, child-peopled villages of earth are, in comparison, Edens of love and 
beauty. A shrewd Yankee, commenting on the ' non-immortality ' theory to me lately, 
observed 'that if it were true, the Lord was a poor trader,. and would never gi-ow rich in 
souls, so long as he created such an awful waste of raw material. ' 

' ' I shall close these few fragmentary illustrations from a page which I am sure any of our 
reliable test mediums might swell into a volume, by narrating a case which has very recently 
come under my observation, and which is well known to most of the mediums who visit 
Rhode Island. 

" Being the guest of a most estimable Quaker lady of unimpeachable character and ve- 
racity, my hostess said to me one day, ' How can I help being a Spiritualist when I 
remember the facts of my conversion ? ' 

"I cannot continue to quote my friend's words, but the sum of her naiTative is as 
follows : 

" Mrs. C. had at one time in her service, a girl who proved to be a fine rapping and 
physical force medium. Her mistress and friends held frequent sittings with her, thus ob- 
taining numerous communications from dear departed ones. 

" On one occasion the spirit of a young man reported himself, claiming to be the lady's 
son. 'She had no son in the spirit-world,' she said; 'there must be some mistake.' But 
the spirit persisted, and, to deepen the mystery, spoke of a beautiful sister he had with him, 
whose existence was equally unknown to Mrs. C. until he reminded her that some twenty 
years previous, she had given birth to a pair of twins, in whom not even a sign of life was 
manifest. The occasion was brought vividly to her mind by the recital of many attendant 
circumstances, of which spirit guardians, it seems, always instruct the spirits of embiyotic 
births, for the purpose of identification. 

" And so the communication went on to say that the young spirits, carefully matured, 
unfolded, and fully ripened, in the more perfect spheres of spiritual existence, were now 
brought to the parents' home to establish the natural relationship which eternally subsists 
between the root and branches of humanity. The delighted mother's conviction, strength- 
ened by the numerous tests which the spirit gave her concerning family details, only stum- 
bled at the fact that she had not even given a name to these unknown ofl"sprmg, not deeming 
at the time of their birth that they possessed any spiritual individuality. To this the spirits 
rapped out': 'Tliat is true, mother; thee gave us no names, so the angels call me Love 
and my sister Beauty. Wilt thou name us now, mother ? ' Mrs. C. replied that she would 
endeavor to think of appropriate names for them against the next meeting, which was ap- 
pointed at a circle for the following evening. During the ensuing night, the mother pon- 
dered long on the interview with her 'angel-born,' and mentally decided on the names she 
would call them, though she carefully kept this decision to herself. The next day, whilst 
pursuing her household avocations in company with her maid, loud raps arrested their atten- 
tion. It was some hours before the appointed circle was to take place, hence the expected 
interview with her spirit children was not in Mrs. C.'s niind. Callmg the alphabet, how- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. ' 261 

ever, the young spirit son rapped out : ' Mother we like the names thou hast thought of 
very much.' Ivnowing that these names had never crossed her lips, and that they could 
not even be dreamed of by her totally uneducated medium, Mrs. C. requested the spirit to 
give them through the raps, which immediately responded by spelling correctly the mother's 
anticipated names of 'Angela ' and 'Angelo.' 

" My venerable friend Seth Hinshaw, and my respected hostess, to whom the above little 
narrative relates, your eyes will undoubtedly meet these lines, and if they should grow very 
wide with astonishment at the liberty I have taken with these portions of your family his- 
tory, forgive me for the sake of the happiness which yoiu: highly respected testimony may 
bring to the heart of some bereaved mother whose wounds have been torn open afresh by 
the horrid and groundless theory that blank annihilation can ever be the doom of the 
divine sparli that is enshrined even in the most imperfect human organism,, and marks 
itself in characters as immortal as the Designer from whence it came, on the mafinished 
but not wasted framework meant to enclose life, when in the fulness of time in this sphere, 
or some other equally rudimentary, the design should be perfected to that point of con- 
sciousness which is in itself immortality 

"Emma Hardinge. 

"Oswego, N. Y., Jzdy 10, 1S60." 

Of the final result of the teachings communicated by Prof, and Mrs, 
Spence, we are unable to give any definite account ; their progi'ess and 
growth — if they efiected any — having been lost sight of in the stupendous 
successes achieved by the proven facts of Spiritualism. 

If however, "faith be the substance of things unseen," and the "non-im- 
mortality" theorists have a sufiicient supply of that quality, they may possi- 
bly have a large influence in directions unknown to, as well as unseen by, the 
rest of mankind. 



CHAPTEPv XXVI. 

SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND (CONCLUDED). 

" So let it be, in God's o\vn might 
We gird us for the coming fight, 
And strong in him whose cause is ours. 
In conHict with unholy powers 
We grasp the weapons he has given, 
The hght, and truth, and love of Heaven." 

J< G. Whittier. 

Effects of the Recantation Movement — Rev. Thos. Higginson's Challenge — 
The Ten Thousand Dollar Challenge — Letters from Tallmadge, Dan- 
skin, Chase, and Others — More Testimony for Immortality — The Boston 
Post on Physical Mediumship— The Boston Spirit-room — Singular Case of 
Healing — Correspondence — Circles — Exorcism — Warren Chase on Work 
and Wages— Statistics of Spiritualism in i860. 

It would be almost impossible to give an idea of the mass of evidence in 
favor of genuine Spiritualism and reliable mediumship which the "recanta- 
tion movement" called forth. True Spiritualists, instead of lamenting over 
the defalcations of the worthless, were compelled to acknowledge their in- 
debtedness to them for undertaking that sifting process in their own behalf, 
which the rapid spread of the cause and the heterogeneous character of its 
behevers so imperatively required. 



262' HISTORY OF MODERN 

In describing the various phases of deception, tricker}, and fanaticism, 
v/hich from time to time have deformed the movement, we have wandered 
far from the actual Hmits of the New England States, whose Spiritualism it 
was the business of the last few chapters to describe ; but the wide-spread 
influence exerted by the manifestations, renders it almost impossible to 
narrow down our observations to any particular section of country. 

The influence of Messrs Harris and Scott, for instance, though originating 
in New York and Virginia, spread over the whole country in its effects, and 
the same may be said of the Spear movements, although they first started 
in Boston and Kiantone. To draw up the status of the spiritualistic cause 
east of the AUeghanies up to i860, we must traverse a much wider space 
than that occupied by the New England States alone. Commencing with 
these again, however, we find that the communications called forth by the 
sifting process described in the preceding chapters, exerted a marked and 
healthful iiifluence on the dissemination of the highest and purest form of 
Spiritualism. Amongst other distinguished speakers, Reverends John Pier- 
pont, Thomas W. Higginson, and Adin Ballon preached on the late exposures 
in terms of high congratulation, and felicitated their hearers on the healthful 
action which such a course must inevitably produce. 

The Worcester Spy^ a paper generally sufiiciently violent in its declama- 
tions against Spiritualism, gives the following synopsis of a discourse given by 
the Rev. T. W. Higginson, appropriate to the occasion of the late exposures : 

" Rev. Thomas W. Higginson lectured at Dodworth's Academy, New York, last Sunday. 

" The following is a brief sketch of his discourse. Mr. Higginson said that he could 
imagine no general class or modes of spiritual intercourse, which was not represented in 
Spiritualism. He rejoiced that it had been scrutinized by so many liard-headed and scep- 
tical scientific men. After hundreds of thousands of facts, extending over eight years, during 
which time tliree out of every four who had investigated it had become converts, lie had 
the right to claim that the burden of proof rested on the other side. 

."During this time at least twenty tliousand mediums have been continually tested by 
sceptics. 

"It was easy for them to be deceived in some things ; natural to expect that some decep- 
tion, voluntary and involuntary, must exist in such vast operations. But if the whole thing 
was deception, then there were twenty thousand persons in the country who were guilty of 
tlie blackest species of fi^aud. And who were these deceivers? Our brothers, sisters, 
mothers, fathers, children, and most intimate friends and kindi-ed ! What could be the pur- 
pose of such a wide-spread deception ? 

" Of the many thousands of mediums in the country, how many had made money by it ? 

"For every one that had, he could venture to say there were at least ten who had lost 
money, reputation, friends, and worldly advantage of all kinds — setting aside the possibility 
of gain. Then, was vice so intrinsically attractive that Iruman beings would wilfully sacri- 
fice their honor and fortune for the sole purpose of establishing an unpopular falsehood ? 
He would give his hundred dollars to any one who would sustain fifteen minutes' 
conversation by trick or machinery in precisely the same manner as that practiced by the 

mediums It was, he knew, of little use to detail facts ; we should all see 

for ourselves: still, what could the exposers make of such facts as tliese? 

" He had seen a guitar play in broad daylight, without any human hands upon it or any 
himian being within three feet of it. The widow of 'honest John Davis,' late Governor 
of Massachusetts [lierself the sister of America's most eminent historian], had told him, 
that while sitting in her own parlor, with two other ladies and a medium, she and they 
saw a pencil rise up on a centre-table in the room of itself, and while no human being was 
within several feet of it, write an intelligent communication addressed to herself. And yet, 
this is but one of thousands and thousands of facts, some greater and some less, which are 
daily transpiring in the world, and which have only been hailed by the jeers and sneers of 
academies and lyceums 

" Mr. Higginson closed a long and earnest address with prayer. 

The brief synopsis above quoted was particularly noted in the secular pa- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 263 

pers for the offer of " one hundred dollars " to any trickster who could simu- 
late precisely the practices of genuine mediumship. This offer appeared to 
excite the peculiar merriment of the press, as if the thing could only by pos- 
sibulty mean one of the fictions in v.-hich clerical gentlemen sometimes in- 
dulge. Presuming that the railing world had already forgotten the numerous 
challenges of a similar kind issued by Messrs. Partridge and Britain, the au- 
thor added to Mr. Higginson' s offer five hundred dollars to any trickster who 
could, by machinery or trick, give such test facts of intelligence as were 
daily revealed through certain specified mediums ; such tests to be given un- 
der precisely similar conditions to those employed by the mediums. This 
offer was immediately doubled by Mr. Miltenberger, of St. Louis, and added 
to by similar offers all over the States, until it amounted to the sum of ten 
thousand dollars. But as no competitor for this prize has ever yet appeared, 
it is presumed that the "tricksters" did not happen to see the various papers 
in which the offers were advertised, or that, like Mr. Paine, of Worcester, 
" they never performed for money." Out of the floods of testimony that soon 
began to pour in from all quarters concerning the rapid advance of the cause, 
we shall select a few items from well-known and reliable correspondents. 
The first whom we shall cite is Governor Tallmadge, who, in describing an 
incident connected Avith the decease of an old friend and near neighbor of his 
family's, writes to the Sj>i?'itual Telegraph as follows : 

"HON. J. B. IMACY LOST FROM THE NIAGARA. 

" Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. 
"Missrs. Partridge and Britain : 

" You have, no doubt, seen in the public papers the melancholy fate of our friend Hon. 
John B. Macy, by the burning of the steamer ' Niagara' near Port Washington, on Lake 
Miclngan. He, with several others, was precipitated from tlie small boat into the Avater, 
whilst it was being let down at the stern of the steamer He was un- 
surpassed in his energy, enterprise, and public spirit, and was withal a devoted Spiritualist. 

His noble widow entertains the same belief, and the greatest consolation 

she has in this sudden bereavement is the assurance that her husband, as a blessed minister- 
ing spirit, can still communicate with her ,. 

" Mr. Macy was drowned on the 24th instant, about four o'clock, P.M. On the morning 
of the next day, and before any rumor of his fate could possibly have reached us, my 
daughter saw shadows flitting across her room, which she mentioned to the family as a 
presage of bad news. Mr. Macy, who had been our near neighbor, had started for Lake 
Superior, and was not expected home for several days. 

" In the night, after the family had retired to rest, my daughter discovered a bright light 
in the sitting-room opening into hers, and the same shadow, which she had indistinctly 
noticed in the morning, now appeared in the shape and exact semblance of Mr. Macy. 
She mformed her mother of the apparition, immediately adding, under impression, ' Mr. 
Macy is drowned.' Another daughter, who is also a medium, sleeping in a different part 
of the house, saw the same light and the shadowy form of Mr. Macy as he appeared to her 
sister, upon which she was mfluenced to write 'Niagara — drowned by the upsetting of 
the small-boat.' The next day, and for the first time, the news of the catastrophe, and 
the manner of Mr. Macy's death, reached our village. 

"Incidents small as these being of such frequent occurrence amongst us, do more in 
their totality to convince the community that spirits live, and do communicate vvith earth, 
than all the action of cheats and vagabonds can avail to shake that belief. Still I believe 
even these jDoor tools are doing a good work for the cause of truth, for they stimulate 
inquiry, and serve as a check to that excessive credulity which necessarily results from such 
an abundance cf phenomena. 

" Circles are numerous here, investigations keen, and the phenomena 

more striking and abundant than ever. 

" Yours, very truly, 

"N. P. Tallm.'ODGE." 



264 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

Colonel Danskin, of Baltimore, wrote to the same effect in the succeeding 
paragraphs, copied from the Banner of Light of i860 : 

" We hear no more now of the insanity of the Spiritualists. The cry of 'humbug' is 
dying out, and the demmciations of the pulpit in this section of country are waxing feeble. 
Even the sneers of the secular press are subsiding, and the pity which some good people 
have expressed for the 'deluded Spiritualists,' has been transmuted into admiration for the 
wonderfully intellectual power displayed upon our rostrum 

"Some ten years ago, when my attention was first drawn to the subject, that \Vonderful 
medium, the poetic Harris, was advertised to lecture in Carroll Hall. I thought it worth 
an hour's attention to learn what could be said upon so strange a subject. The hall was 
crowded by a throng of curiosity-hunters, some of whom had come to sneer, and a few to 
learn whether there was really a communion between the two worlds. I listened with 
wonder and delight. The very thoughts which had been flitting through my bram for years 
were here embodied in compact and logical propositions. 

" The absolute necessity of the intercommunion of men and angels was clearly proven. 
The facts upon which the claims of that communion were based werfe distinctly stated, and the 
philosophy deducible from those facts was so eloquently presented that I saw a new world 
unfolding before me that my soul had long yearned to behold, but for which theology had 
forbidden me to search. 

"Since that time many spiritual speakers have visited our city, — the inspired Ambler, the 
modest, j^et earnest, Achsah Sprague. Here Cora Hatch was for months made the mouth- 
piece of the angels, who poured through her finely organized brain the melodies of the 
higher spheres. Then came the logical and eloquent Thomas Gales Forster, sowing the 
seeds of truth, which have since germinated and brought forth such good fruit ; Emma 
Hardinge, the dashing, brilliant, and forcible Emma, v/ho took her hearers by storm, and 
won the applause even of those who were not morally strong enough to cast aside entirely 
the creeds in which their infant minds had been swaddled ; Lizzie Doten spoke a short 
season for us, and it was during this brief visit that exquisite poem, ' The Streets of Balti- 
more,' was given by the spirit of Edgar Poe, who has often used her mediumship for the out- 
pouring of his rhythmical sermons. Since October last, Mrs. Hyzer has been our principal 
speaker, and delighted audiences have continued to fill our hall, listening to the sublime 

utterances which fall in living light from her lips 

" Washington A. Dansion." 

Deeming that the likenesses of deceased persons, given under marvellous 
test conditions by Messrs. Rogers, Walcutt, Anderson, and others, would 
furnish undeniable proofs of spirit intercourse, many anxious inquirers, 
whose faith had been shaken by recent occurrences, appealed to these medi- 
ums for the proofs they sought. The services of the spirit artists were in 
unusual demand at that period, therefore, and the success of their medium- 
istic efforts became almost fabulous. 

From an immense mass of testimony incidental to the time, our limits will 
only permit us to select one case, which we insert because it gives the ex- 
perience of a well-known citizen of Newburyport, and is communicated 
and vouched for by one of the most prominent and reliable of the advo- 
cates of Spiritualism, namely, Hon. Warren Chase. 

"QUERY — BANNER OF LIGHT. — iS6o. 

"Would the hole in the carpet, wire in the floor and table of Mrs. Paine, account for 
the following? or, is this one of the tougher kind of manifestations that requires the devil 
theory of Beecher and Co. ? Mr. R. Sherman, overseer in one of the factories of New- 
buryport, has a wife who has been many years an inhabitant of the spirit-world. His 
second and present wife is a medium, through whom the other often communicates v/ith 
him, mostly in writing. Some months ago, Mr. Sherman requested his spirit companion 
to try and get for him her likeness, and soon after she informed him that she would try to 
do so ; promising to visit the room of Mi". Walcutt, spirit artist, of Columbus, Ohio, 
naming a day and hour for that purpose, and requesting him to inform Mr. W. of the 
appoir.tm.ent. ■ 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 265 

" That there should be as perfect a test given as possible, INIr. Sherman got a friend who 
had no interest in the matter to write for him to Mr. Walcutt, as follows : 

" ' Dear Sir, — I have made arrangenents with a spirit to visit your room at [naming 

day and hour]. Please forward the result by mail.' etc. 

" Mr. Walcutt was sick in bed at the receipt of this letter, but, bolstered up, he drew the 
lOceness of a spirit who appeared at the time appointed, and sent it to Newburyport. On 
being examined, it was instantly recognized to be Mr. Sherman's first wife as she appeared 
in her last days, with her hair cut short as it was only a few days before her death, and a 
peculiar curl on one side, just as she wore it. The hand was placed at the side of her face, 
which was a constant habit with her, and the whole picture contained unmistakable proofs of 
her identity. Mr. Sherman even was surprised to see her hair cut short, but the spirit said 
she was so represented, to make the test more complete. 

" This is only one of many similar and equally good tests that daily come under my obser- 
vation, and which may help to furnish our enemies with fresh subjects to account for. 

" I am sure there is no science in old Hai-vard that explains this one fact alone, away, but 
those who have a dev'l to chaige such occurrences to, have the start of me, and are ahead 
of my time. 

"Warren Chase." 

The followdng extracts are from an essay on immortality published in the 
Sunbeam, New York, by Professor Wliipple, a gentleman of unimpeachable 
veracity, and scientific attainments, who had resigned the chances of worldly 
distinction to which his education and position entitled him, for the sake of 
becoming an itinerant in the cause of Spiritualism. Mr. Whipple's cases, al- 
though not very remarkable either for originality or marvel, were highly ap- 
plicable to the time, and are illustrative of a subject which will ever continue 
to interest mankind, namely, whether the apparitions of deceased persons are 
produced by unknown forces in the atmosphere, mental images, or the actual 
living spirits of the departed. In the settlement of such questions the proofs 
of intelligence as well as identity communicated by Mr. W'hipple, are exceed- 
ingly valuable, and being recited moreover with extreme directness and sim- 
plicity, they commend themselves to the attention of every reader. 

"PROFESSOR WHIPPLE TO THE BANNER OF LIGHT. 

" Eight years ago I was travelling in Medina County, in this State. 

" I put up over Sunday with a family in the town of Brunswick. In the family were two 
rapping mediiuns. They and myself held a circle during the day, when we were seated 
round a large dining table. I propounded many questions to my deceased relatives, aU of 
which were correctly answered through the raps. 

" After I had concluded questioning, the mediums rose and took a position by the window 
six or eight feet from the table, which, whilst they sang a hymn, kept time by raising itself 
directly from the floor, without the slightest physical contact, or the approach of a human 
being withm six feet of it. I introduce this fact to call attention to the intelligent agency 
manifested independent of the medium. 

"Last spring I attended a circle at the residence of Mr. Tuttle, father of Hudson Tuttle. 
It was the first time I had ever been at their house. Mr. Tuttle became clairvoyant, and 
corectly described the spirits of my mother, two sisters, and a twin brother. She was en- 
tranced and spoke to me of events only known to my spirit mother and myself. 

" Whilst lecturing m Morrow County this last winter, I attended a circle one evening 
composed of about twenty persons, and there, for the first time, met a young man, a medium, 
who had no acquaintance with me and knew nothing of my history. He was controlled to 
give tests to different individuals. 

" At length he turned his attention to me ; said he saw a young man, a spirit, by my side, 
whom he described very particularly. 

" The description answered exactly to my brother. He compared his features wath mine ; 
said we greatly resembled each other, and that he appeared to bear the relation of brother to 
me. 'Now,' said he, I will sae if I can tell how old he is.' He paused a moment and then 
exclaimed, 'Why, he says he is neither older nor yoituger than you.' 'Very true,' I an- 
swered, ' for he is my tv/in brother.' 

" A short time before my brother departed this life, while he lay sick in Minnesota, I 
went to Mr. Durkee, a spirit physician residmg in Middlefield, Ohio, who, I understood, 



266 HISTORY OF MODERN 

could examine diseases at a distance, without being informed of the symptoms of the patient. 
He examined my brother correctly, described his symptoms and their complication, and said 
he was incurable. He told the medicines he had taken, the effect produced by them, and 
a marked change then occurring in his symptoms. All this I noted down, and found to be 
correct on my arrival in Minnesota. 

•'My brother lived but a few days after my return. Last September, at the Spiritualists' 
convention, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, whilst on the speaker's stand in the public hall, a 
Mrs. Shaw, a trance medium, described to me my twin brother, correctly delineating his ap- 
pearance and character in every respect ; yet she never saw him in the earth form, or had the 
siiglitest idea that I had a brother. I might relate numerous instances of the same kind, 

did space permit Rogers, while on earth, painted hundreds of portraits of 

individuals he never saw. He would sometimes have a portrait finished for months before 
it was recognized and claimed by its appropriate owner. 

"Rogers was a tailor by trade, with only an ordinary education, and mediocre talent, 
without the least knowledge of the art. Eschew his own explanation of the production of 
his pictures, namely, that one spirit appeared to him, and another entranced and used his or- 
ganism to paint the likeness of the apparition, and what account could be given of his 
otherwise miraculous gift ? 

" At the early age of sixteen, Hudson Tuttle, a farmer's boy, with a very common school 
education, commenced under spirit influence to paint a geological panorama.* He painted 
correctly the different geological systems, and characteristic fossils, occupying eight hundred 
feet of canvas. 

" At that time, he had no practical knowledge of geology ; yet many eminent professors 
have pronounced the painting scientifically correct, and a remarkable exliibition of skill. 
And thus, I might go on ad infinitum, introducing facts, some of which ab- 
solutely demonstrate that tlie soul lives beyond the tomb, and others bearing equally conclu- 
sive evidence of the mfluence which the immortal world, exercises over the mortal." 

The New York Conference, at which so much publicity had been given to 
the doings of the " tricksters," of course became the scene of many earnest 
expressions of counter opinions. The following is a specimen of the tone the 
discussions assumed, subsequent to the exposures. The report dates a few 
weeks later than the Paine confession : 

"At the conference of last week, the question under discussion was whether all so-called 
spiritual communications cannot be accounted for by the theory of clairvoyance. Dr. Gray 
was of the opinion that clairvoyance covered the v/hole ground, but as a salvo, made clair- 
voyance a spiritual state, into which none could enter without first coming into rapport with 

a spirit The "session of the conference to which I allude was rich in 

facts. Mr. Conklin related the following : 

" Last v/eek two Baptist clergymen from Brooklj'n, called on him, the one being a Spirit- 
ualist, the other openly acknowledging his frank belief that the whole thing was 'a humbug. 
Mr. Conklin, without the least feeling of annoyance at such an introduction to the seance, 
directed the sceptic to write names and questions away from the table ; and when he was 
quite sure that he, Mr. C, could not have seen them, the names, together with most appro- 
priate answers, were widtten out by his hand. The sceptic was astonished ; and, after 
spending an hour in asking questions and receiving the most satisfactory tests in answer, he 
avowed liis belief that he must have been conversing with the world of spnits, since the 
knowledge communicated could have come from no other source. 

" The other reverend gentleman stated that on a certain occasion, when it had been 
previously announced to him, through Mr. Conklin, that George Fox, the celebrated Quaker 
founder, would preach through him a sermon on imm.ortality, he found himself unable 
to follow his notes : his congregation seemed to fade from his sight, and whilst but partially 
conscious of his surroundings, he found himself most pleasingly impelled to pronounce a 
discourse, which his congregation subsequently declared to have been 'the grandest sermon 
he had ever preached.' He added that, at midnight on a recent occasion, the fear of bur- 
glars became so powerfully impressed upon his mind that he could neither sleep nor lie still. 
At length he was compelled to rise and search the house, when, on entering his dining-room 
he found the stove red hot, and a horse of clothes, which had been left standing around it, 
upset by some means upon the stove. Just as he entered, the clothes had ignited ; a mo- 
ment later, and they would have been m a blaze : the result must have been destruction if 

* Hudson Tuttle has also given, under the same control, two of the finest works on the " Arcana of Nature," 
•which the literature of the present day supplies. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 267 

not of the lives, at least of the property of the family, had not this t.mely impression sent 
him there in season to extinguish the flames. Shortly after, the spirit sister of this gentle- 
man informed him at a circle that she was the controlling power on this occasion. She per- 
ceived the danger, and finding it impossible to impress him with the true nature of the 
case, succeeded in exciting his mind to tlie fear of robbers. Mr. Conklin also related a 
well known instance of spirit telegraphy, which was the more interesting as all the parties 
concerned in it were present to verify his statement. 

"Mr. Conklin was at Washington. One of his children was taken ill, and attended by 
Dr. Gray, who considered the case so critical, that he advised the family to telegraph for 
Mr. Conklm. The party charged with this mission, on his way to the, magnetic telegraph 
office, stepped instead, into the office of the Christian Spiritualist, at 553 Broadway, where 
■ a public circle was then in session. Mr. John F. Coles was one of the persons present, 
and hearing the report of the messenger, asked if there was any spirit then present who 
would take the message in advance of the telegraph. ' Black Hawk,' the Indian chief 
announced himself, and volunteered to do so. The message was given and the spirit pur- 
ported to depart on his errand. 

" Meanwhile, Mr. Conklin was in his room at Washington, and being fatigued with the 
labors of the forenoon, was reposing upon a sofa, when he felt suddenly impelled to get up 
and go to his table. There the influence came upon him, and immediately wrote through 
his hand: ' Go right home — your little boy Sammy, is very sick. Black Hawk.' Mr. 
Conklin at once telegraphed home, and after receiving a confirmation of his message, fol- 
lowed himself in person. 

"N. B. — Mr. Coles, who was concerned in the delivery of this spirit telegraph, and pres- 
ent when Mr. Conklm repeated the narrative, was quite willing to except this case from the 
list of impositions. No general rule without an exception, then, it seems. {Rcporter.y 

The following narrative was furnished by a correspondent of the Boston 
Post, from whose volumes it is now reprinted. It was published about the 
time when the majority of the secular papers were writing voluminous obitu- 
aries on Spiritualism, slain, as they alleged, at the hands of the camp-follov/- 
ers who ever hang on the rear of the armies of progression. Besides the 
interest derived from the narrative itself, its record by one of the most respec- 
table journals in New England, the editor of whom vouches for its authen- 
ticity, renders its testimony peculiarly valuable. It is only necessary to add 
that the seance took place in the house of one of the most distinguished mer- 
chants of Boston, and that the medium, Mr. RoUin Squire, was a gentleman 
whose standing and position rendered all idea of interested motive or decep- 
tion impossible. On this head, moreover, the nature of the occurrences wiU 
be ample witness of their supra-mundane origin. 

" To the Editor of the Boston Post : 

"It was about ten minutes past seven, on Friday evening, December 7, 1855, that a 

party of ten were admitted into the house of Mr. , the much respected merchant, of 

Boston, for the purpose of witnessing the strange phenomena alleged to occur there. The 
medium in this case was a young gentleman under twenty years of age. 

"In the chamber to which we were shown were chairs, a sofa, bed, wardrobe, looking- 
glasses, etc., etc. The room was about ten feet high. In the centre was a round table 
weighing ahout fifty pounds. Around this we became seated. The medium took a gold 
watch, suspended it by the chain from his his right hand, closely enveloped that hand in a 
handkerchief to pi-event the play of a single joint, and requested the spirits to open the 
watch, remove the cap, shut it again, and notify by raps when it was completed. All this 
was done. Also, the cap was taken in a similar way from a silver watch of one of the 
party, and could not be found, until it dropped on the table, at our request. The watches 
were passed from hand to hand under the table many times. 

" The room was now darkened, when the following phenomena occurred : The table was 
forcibly drawn up to the ceiling, leaving the dents of its legs on the ceiling ; it then came 
down, having adhered to the ceiling with such force as to drag down the plaster-dust with it. 
It was raised some twelve or fourteen inches from the floor whilst the whole party had their 
hands on its upper surface. Whilst six of our party strove to hold it by main force, it was 
wrenched from our grasp and thrown some six or eight feet ujDon the bed. The medium 
was lifted bodily from the floor at various distances, whilst we held hun bye.'fher hand. 



268 HISTORY OF 3I0DERN' 

He was lifted from the floor and placed, standing, on the centre of the table, and again 
stretched upon his back thereon. Being seated in his chair, liimself, chair and u\\, was 
elevated several inches, and hopped aljout the room lilce a frog. Suddenly it was lifted, 
medium and all, into the centre of the table. Again it was drawn up so high that the me- 
dium's head knocked against the ceiling; and finally the medium was thrown out of it upon 
the bed, whilst the chair was hurled upon the floor. A leg of the table, being slightly 
loose, was wrenched off, and a still heavier table — one weighing ninety pounds — was 
substituted. This table was gently raised, turned in the air topsy-turvy, and then lightly 
laid, legs upwards, on our heads, resting there as lightly as a feather pillow. 

" This table was also tossed about, pitched over, and floated hither and thither with the 
same ease, apparently, as the lighter one. 

"Pillows were thrown, and every one of us was touched and pinched, whilst we all 
joined hands. We were fanned as by a cool current of air, and something like a heavy 
arm or leg floated by us, brushing our hair aside. 

" One of the party received a smart slap on the forehead, with what felt to be a human 
hand — the tips of the fingers slanting downward, as if from some one above us. Others 
also were slapped and touched by a small delicate hand, but coming from the same direc- 
tion About ten o'clock we broke up our sitting; but ere we departed, 

we were invited into the parlor, when the medium, standing on the floor, played several 
tunes on the piano — a very heavy one — which rose and fell in excellent time to the music. 
The Deolian pedal, too, was pressed down by an invisible performer, wliilst the medium's two 
feet were resting as he stood, on the ground, at full arm's length from the piano. Then, 
whilst he pressed the keys as before, the instrument became mute, and whilst he still Dlayed 
the sound was resumed. Finally, each party was bid " good-night," his name bemg rapped 
out on the piano case, and we left the house at a quarter past ten. 

"All this was done promptly, and to the entire satisfaction of all present. Not a single 
request was refused. No hesitancy was evinced ; not an error was committed. 

" It was a private residence ; no fee of admittance, and of the ten persons present, besides 
the medium and the gentleman of the house, eight were sceiDtical when they entered. They 
left the mansion fully convinced. The whole of these marvels were executed within three 
hours. We leave comments to the reader. We state sober facts. "V/. ' ' 

In Boston, a spirit room similar to the one established by Jonathan 
Koons, in Ohio, was fitted up by a gentleman by the name of Barnard, who 
opened it free to the public. The arrangements consisted only of an ordi- 
nary table, chairs, and a platform on which the instruments were placed. 

Everything in the room, including even its floorings and walls were repeat- 
edly searched, to detect imposture, if any had been possible. 

The first circles held in the Boston spirit room are described by Mr. Bar- 
nard in the following communication to the Spiritual Telegraph : 

"Mr. Editor, — I have recently instituted a 'spirit room,' with apparatus similar in 
some respects to that of Mr. Koons in Ohio, and which, like his, is free to the public. We 
have had but three sittings as yet, and last night the spirits called through a ^^'riting medium 
for a vial of pure water. This was procured for them from the office of Dr. Pinkerton, our 
neighbor. They then requested the room to be darkened awhile; and after it was, at their 
request, lit up again, we found the vial contained pure sweet wine, of a dark red color. 

" They also played upon the instruments, drums, tambourine, and bells, most powerfully ; 
produced many spirit lights, and gave general satisfaction to the whole company, twenty- 
eight in number. Amongst others who were present and will certify to the above, were 
Rev. Allen Putnam, of Roxbury; Rufus Elmer and wife, of Springfield; Jolm Orvis, of 
Boston; Luther Parks, of Boston; and Jonathan Buffum, of Lynn. 

"Yours for the cause of truth, 

" George L. Barnard. 

"13 Auburn Court, Boston." 

Far more wonderful phenomena than are here described soon ensued in 
the "spirit room" in Boston, besides which many other circles of equal 
interest were held in the city in every rank of life and phase of spiritual 
power. 

About this time — from 1855 to 1866 — physical manifestations of the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 269 

most astounding character, were given at Providence, Rhode Island, through 
the mediumship of Mrs. "Wilbur, an invalid lady, who was chiefly confined to 
her bed ; also in Portland, Maine, through a little girl, the daughter of a 
distinguished lawyer of the city. Writings produced by the spirits with their 
own hands, under the most stringent test conditions, were given through 
these mediums, and contained exact fac-similes of the handwriting of nu- 
merous deceased persons, descriptions of the spheres, and philosophical 
essays. Other non-professional mediums, variously endowed, Avere reported 
from different parts of the New England States, furnishing an incontrovertible 
mass of testimony in favor of genuine mediumship, and the total absence of 
any possible motive for dece^Jtion or fraud. Amongst the innumerable cases 
of healing which Avere daily flooding the spiritual journals from all sections 
of the country, we select — as the only one which our space will here permit 
us to insert — a singularly curious and interesting instance of spirit benefi- 
cence, vouched for upon the authority of unimpeachable witnesses, and 
furnished by Mr. Charles Partridge, who was personally acquainted with all 
the parties. Mr. Partridge reports the circumstances in the Spiritual Tele- 
graph, in the following terms : 

" SINGULAR SPIRITUAL VISITATION AND EXTRAORDINAY CURE OF CONSUMPTION. 

" While the writer was on a visit to Brims\vick, Maine, a few days since, the interesting 
facts recorded in this connection were communicated to him by the lady and her friends, for 
whom the spirits exercised their extraordinary powers. 

Mrs. D. P. Newman, of Brunswick, belongs to a family in which consumption is a con- 
genital disease, one sister and eight members of her father's family having been removed 
from earth by thisinsidious destroyer. The health of Mrs. N. had been faihng for some 
years, owing to her consumptive tendencies, when a sudden cold had the effect to prostrate 
her system and reduce her to the condition of incurable suffering. Confined to her bed, she 
continued to fail rapidly. Her cough was incessant and every fresh paroxysm of pain was 
succeeded by increasing and hopeless debility. One day, when INIrs. Newman had been 
confined to her couch of pain for five weeks, a singular circumstance occurred in Vassal- 
boro, which is some forty miles from Brunswick, the residence of the patient. Mrs. Nor- 
cross, widely known in the eastern portion of New England as an excellent clairvoyant 
and healing medium, was seated alone in her apartment. 

The time was early evening, and nothing occuiTed to disturb the silence of the room 
until the door suddenly opened, and Airs. Norcross beheld entering what appeared to be a 
human figure concealed by loose drapery. Presuming it to be a boy belonging to the 
family who had assumed this disguise for the childisli purpose of affrighting her, Mrs. Nor- 
cross spoke, addressing the boy by name. 

"Thereupon the covering seemed to fall fi-om one side of the figure, disclosing, to her 
great surprise, a beautiful female form, with a face glowing with eai-nest purpose and re- 
markable tenderness of feeling. This lovely apparition Mrs. Norcross did not recognize as 
any one she had ever seen before. After a moment's pause the mysterious visitant said : 
' My name is Jordan, and I have brought my dear sister to have you heal her by the power 
which you possess.' As she spoke the covering fell from the other side, disclosing a pale 
invalid, who reclined upon the arm of the radiant stranger. Mrs. Norcross at once recog- 
nized in the invalid the shadowy appearance of Mrs. Newman, of Brunswick, and it subse- 
quently appeared that the fair unknowaa was a sister of the name of Jordan, who had long 
been an inhabitant of the spirit-world. 

" Before the figures vanished Mrs. Norcross had a distinct perception of the patient's 
dangerous condition in all its details ; but with it she also received a prescription, which, 
by direction, she immediately forwarded to Mrs. Newman. Four days later the seeress 
visited Brunswick, learned that Mrs. Newman had followed her prescription, and already a 
marked and beneficial change had succeeded. Other pr-escriptions, given under spu-it in- 
fluence, followed, and the patient, whose case had seemed utterly hopeless, began gradually 
to recover, until, at the expiration of eight weeks, every distressing sjanptom had disap- 
peared, the consumptive resumed all her domestic duties, and is now freed from the debility 
and suffering that has afflicted her for ten years, and in the enjoyment of perfect health. 
The writer has given this nanative substantially as he received it from Mrs. Newman and 
her fi lends a fev/ days since. Mrs. Newman cannot now refer to the subject of her mys- 



2 70 HISTORY OF MODERN 

terioiiF treatment and providential recovery without intense emotion, and whilst making 
this re ord was compelled to leave the room to I'egain her self-possession. 

"\\ hen she returned she gratefully acknowledged that she had become a medium, and 
was of, en entranced by the beautiful spirit sister, whose angelic ministrations had restored 
her to life and earthly usefuhiess." 

A fair specimen of the methods which may be successfully adopted to culti- 
vate spiritual communion, as well as an evidence of the spontaneity of the 
influence, wherever conditions are favorable, will be found in the following 
simple sketch, recently communicated to the Banner of Light by a highly- 
respected and prominent citizen of Greenfield, Massachusetts : 

^^ Editors of the Banner of Light : 

" Within a few months, from various circumstances, an interest in the subject of Spirit- 
ualism has sprung up in the minds of a few of the citizens of this place — Greenfield, 
Massachusetts. 

" Some persons, each of whom have enjoyed good educational advantages, mutually 
agreed to meet together regularly, for the purpose of critically examining the curious phe- 
nomena which each had either witnessed or heard of from sources calculated to arrest 
their attention. These persons were all acquainted with each other, were of irreproachable 
standing in society, and were all satisfied of the entire integrity of each others' intentions. 
In forming this circle they mutually agreed to lay aside all preconceived prejudices, and 
selfish purposes; in short, to investigate patiently, and simply with the honest purpose of dis- 
covering if any new and valuable truth could be brought to liglit. 

" During the first few sittings, the phenomena of table-tipping and movements occurred. 
By these, questions were asked and ansv/ered correctly, through the alphabet and the move- 
ments of the table at the right letters, in tlie usual manner. After a while this form of mani- 
festation discontinued, and was succeeded by the following : One of the circle was influenced 
to give long-continued, steady and forcible blows of the hand upon the table ; blows which 
must ordinarily have caused severe pain and swelling, but though sometimes prolonged for 
hours, caused no inconvenience, unless violently restrained. 

"After this, the hand was moved as if in tlie act of writing. At first the words were 
illegible, but after a time became distinct, and frequently wrote out, 'Have patience.' 
Tlie writing was purely automatic, and seemed to be facilitated by the accompaniment of 
music, which was called for by pantomime 

" Shortly after the writing became legible, entrancement supervened, and while in this 
state a complete transformation seemed to come over the appearance of the medium. The 
predominant expression was that of drollery, and hearty merriment. By signs, music was 
called for, and accompanied, on the part of the medium, by dancing, sometimes deft and 
graceful, at others very energetic. Occasionally striking personations of deceased persons 
were given and recognized. The information communicated by writing, was to the effect 
that a circle of spirits were earnestly engaged in the development of our medium. 

" We were reminded in our impatience that there were laws and conditions in spirit-life 
as stringent as those on earth ; that these were imperative, and often hindered their coming 
to us as we expected or desired, and that, moreover, we frequently marred their attempts 
by our ignorantly breaking tlae conditions of their manifestation. 

"After a time the development of our medium became characterized by the regular 
appearance of three successive influences, each of which is marked and distinct from the 
other. First appears the merry influence already described, who dances and talks gaily. 
Tlie second is grave, earnest, and instructive, delivering a well-arranged discourse, and 
inviting us to discussion. . . . Tlie third influence is that of an Indian, of apparently 
majestic mien, and highly characteristic manner and language 

" Music is demanded by signs, and sometimes an Indian song or dance is performed. 

Under this influence the medium returns to his normal state. It is a fact worthy 
of notice that the medium's health has materially improved since the commencement of 

these sittings Tlie first, or merry spirit, it is claimed, professes to come for 

the purpose of preparing for the second, who is our teacher and guide, instructing us in 
wise philosophy and pure religious feeling. The third, or Indian influence, professes to 
come for tlie purpose of restoring our medium to his normal condition. By the second, or 
superior intelligence, we are assured that all which is now mysterious to us in this matter 

shall be ultimately explained and made clear to all mankind Tliis article is 

written at the I'equest of our spirit-teacher, who desired thereby to offer an inducement to 
other thoughtful and earnest souls, who might be encouraged to organize circles amongst 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 271 

themselves, and thus open the door for spirit visitants who were everywhere waiting for 
such opportunities to bring the truths of spirit communion to their friends on eartli. 

" One of the Circle." 

A correspondent of the Spiritual Telegraph writes from Lawrence, Massa- 
chusetts, concerning the origin and progress of the cause in that place. He 
says : 

" The first public manifestations occurred about 1857. Those, and subsequent ones, pro- 
voked much investigation, and honest inquirers ' have not failed to receive their portion of 
ridicule. ' 

"Nevertheless, the truth continues to spread, and the friends there have secured a hall, 
and hold two meetings eveiy Sabbath, besides many circles during the week. At a conven- 
tion held there during the last winter, a certain sceptic, attending with the full purpose of 
converting all the infidel Spiritualists from ' the evil of their ways,' became suddenly en- 
tranced by the spirits, compelled to deliver an admirable address in favor of the cause, and 
since then has become, under the same influence, one of its most efficient advocates." 

The following letter refers to a new, though, as it will be perceived, inef 
fective method of attempting to stay the "spiritualistic delusion.' It is one 
of many recorded similar efforts, and is given as a specimen of all the results 
hitherto achieved in such directions : 

" EXORCISM BY HOLY WATER A FAILURE. 

"New York, September 18, 1859. 
" Editors of the Spii-itttal Telegi'aph : 

"In your paper of the 7th inst. I notice that you intimate that the Right Rev. Bishop of 
Albany purposes to ' exorcise spirits,' or, in other words, 'to cast out devils.' It may be 
of interest to the reverend gentleman, and the balance of the Catholic clergy, to know that 
the thing has been tried and proved a failure. The case which proves this is as follows : 

" Four siUy, badly-educated girls, of ages ranging from fifteen to twenty, having gathered 
together at a friend's house to 'have a time with the spirits,' or, in other words, to trifle 
with spiritual manifestations, seated themselves around a table, and after asking all manner 
of foolish questions, requested the spirits to take hold of them. 

"The spirits at once complied; seized them, treated them in the roughest manner, and 
shaking them, caused them to use the most violent actions and outrageous language, etc. 
In this strait one of the dignitaries of the mother church was sent for in haste, to ' expel 
the obsessing demons.' After the priest had arrived at the scene of disorder, he put on his 
robes, got ready the holy water, and approached the possessed girls in the due formulae 
proper to such occasions. After many sallies with the holy fluid, and a vast number of 
incantations, none of which produced the slightest effect, the mediums at length charged 
upon him with such irresistible power, and such capacity of finger-nails, that the worthy 
padre fled precipitately, leaving the field in possession of the 'demons' and the spectators, 
who had gathered together to witness the ' exorcism.' The girls still continued to be used 
roughly by the discordant spirits they had invoked, until the arrival of some of their spirit- 
ualistic friends, by whose judicious passes and gentle remonstrances with the spirits they 
were instantly relieved. This is not the only case where 'holy water' and holy incanta- 
tions have failed in cases of obsession, and, did time and space permit, I could cite many 
other mstances to prove it. The Boston Pilot said some time ago, ' that a few henrty 
prayers and a plentiful supply of holy water would soon put down the humbug.' 

"Now I will agree to produce a hundred mediums, whose manifestations the v/hole 
Catholic Church cannot affect. I know of one upon v/hom they may commence experi- 
menting immediately, and though they may collect oceans of holy water, and perform their 
most imposing orgies, if they can stop the manifestations through that medium I will agree 
to raise money enough to build, at least, one small-sized church. 

"Yours, etc., Spiritus." 

The writer's name and address were furnished to the editor in full verifica- 
tion of the genuine character of his offer ; but, as yet, the " small-sized 
church " has net been demanded. 



272 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

An old and highly-respected correspondent of the Spiritual Telegraph 
furnishes the following illustration of the fallacy of attempting to explain the 
spiritual manifestations upon the principes of animal magnetism. 

"A BIOLOGIST DEPRIVED OF HIS POWER. —TELEGRAPH PAPERS. 

"MORETOWN, VliRMONT, ya;zz/rtr)' 20, 1S54. 

" Messrs. Editors, — The cause of Spiritualism is making rapid progress in this 

vicinity. 

" We have healing, writing, speaking, and physical mediums, yet not enough of either to 
satisfy the demands of inquirers. 

•'There was a curious case of spiritual prophecy last fall at Montpelier, in which a great 
biologist by the name of Stone was told that all his power was given him from God to pre- 
pare the way for spiritual manifestations, and that he would soon have his power taken from 
him if he continued to use it against Spiritualism. Whilst he was lecturing at Montpelier, 
he called on two mediums in that place, and declaring that all the marvels reported of them 
could be explained by animal magnetism, requested the privilege of magnetizing them, hav- 
ing previously promised his friends that he would 'show them up.' The permission to 
try his power was readily granted, and as long a time as he pleased allowed for the experi- 
ment, which, however, utterly failed. 

" He could do nothing with them, but after the trial the spirits influenced them and again 
warned him that he would have his power taken from him, unless he determined to use it for 
Spiritualism. 

" Disregarding the predictio^^, he continued his former course ; but at his next lecture his 
usual experiments over his ozvn subjects utterly failed. He at once proceeded to Northcote, 
aiid a similar failure there ensued ; and we learn that after experimenting with other subjects, 
and in other places, his power seems to be utterly gone, and latterly we have ceased to hear 
of Stone, 'the great biologist.' 

"Here is an important fact illustrated; namely, that whilst the influence which controls 
the spirit medium and biological subject is the same, yet the former, coming from a higher 
and purer source, is so much the stronger that between the two it establishes a difference 
gi"eat enough to make the spirit the controlling power over the biologist. 

"RoswELL Child." 

To attempt following further the progress of Spiritualism in New England 
would be simply to enumerate its cities, towns, and villages, and to say that 
one or all of the representative facts we have named is as rife in one district 
as another ; or to number up at least one-third of its principal citizens, and 
affirm' that they were either openly or covertly known to be Spiritualists. 

Amongst our notices of mediums, journals, spiritual literature, associative 
movements, etc.. New England will still be found to occupy a prominent 
place. To these special records we must refer our readers for further infor- 
mation, and conclude our notice of Spiritualism in the East up to i860 by 
presenting two pieces of statistical matter, both of which deserve to be perused 
Avith attention. The first is a summary of the receipts which a first-class lec- 
turer obtains through his itinerating system of spiritual propaganda, to which 
several hundreds of persons are devoted, many of whom are endowed with tal- 
ents which would procure for them a field of honorable and remunerative 
labor in various other directions. As Hon. Warren Chase, whose report we 
quote, is one of the oldest and amongst the most popular of the spiritual speak- 
ers, his case forms a fair illustration of the average receipts of most of his 
co-workers, and a very sufficient answer, moreover, to the allegations of those 
who, knowing nothing of the genius of Spiritualism or Spiritualists, determine 
that the immense number of the latter must, judged by their own standard, 
enter upon their missions for the purpose of gain. 

The following paragraph will, we think, furnish its own comments on such 
a belief or assertion. Air. Chase's statement is prefaced by the succeeding 
remarks from the editor of the Banner of Light. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 273 

"WARREN CHASE— WORK AND WAGES. 

"The cry is often raised, 'Lecturers are getting rich.' . . . Warren Chase has made 
his yearly report and there seems from it little danger of liis retiring to live on the interest of 
his lecturing fund. Here is his report : 'During the year I have lectured one hundred and 
twenty-one times, as follows: Five lectures in Washington for $50, §10 each; thirty-seven 
in New York, $121, about $5.50 each; thirty-hve in Vermont, $78, about $2 each, twenty 
four in New Jersey, $91, about §4 each; thirteen in Pennsylvania, ^52, $4 each; four in 
Deleware, $20, $5 each; and three in Connecticut, $13, about $4. 50 each; total, §425, 
or less than $3.50 each. It has cost a good share of this to pay my travelling and other 
expenses My income tax never troubles me, and probably none of our speak- 
ers are much more troubled on that score than myself." 

Comment on this statement is unnecessary, save to express a hope that the 
foUovv'ing piece of statistical information will prove of a more acceptable char- 
acter. 

At a convention held at Baltimore by the Catholics of the United States, 
some of their most prominent dignitaries stated, upon "accurate and reliable 
bases of information," that the believers in Spiritualism on the American Con- 
tinent had reached the almost incredible number of eleven millions, or one- 
third of the populatio7i of the United States I 

If such are the beginnings of this giant movement, where, what, and when 
will be the end ? If the pious pulpit and sanguine press, who are perpetually 
reporting the death and burial of Spiritualism, cannot answer us, perhaps the 
Harvard professors, followers of Brewster and Faraday, or the fine gentle- 
men of the "Dundreary" class, who represent such a large proportion of the 
fashionable brains of England, can supply us with the information. 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

SPIRITUALISM IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

"The mightiest souls of all time hover o'er us. 
Who labored like gods amongst men and are gone ; 
Like great bursts of sun on the dark way before us, 
They're with us, still with us ; our batdes fight on." 

Gerald Massey. 

Spiritualism in Philadelphia — Dr. H. T. Child's Report — Floating in the 
AIR AT A Public Meeting — Mr. M. B. Dyott and the Children's Lyceum 
— Spiritualists' Funerals — Spiritualism in CorpvY, Titusville and Mead- 
viLLE — McFadden, the Healing Medium — Dr. John Newcomer — Norris- 
TOWN — Pentecostal Scenes in Roulette — Baltimore and Washington — 
Mrs. Danskin's Circles. 

We must now present a brief sketch of the rise and progress of Spiritualism 
in Philadelphia ; and though our space will only admit of a slight glance at its 
external movement, we shall be able to offer a faithful picture of its origin 
and present status, by referring to a compendius notice which appeared in 
the columns of ^o. Religio-Philosofhical Joiu-nal oi 1866, drawn up by a 
gentleman equally celebrated as a noble spiritualist, aud as one of the most 
talented and inspired writers of spiritualistic literature, namely. Dr. H. T. 
Child, of Philadelphia. The report in question is as follows : 

"A BRIEF history OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM IN PHILADELPHIA. 

" The undersigned were appointed by the ' First Society of Spiritualists,' in Philadelphia, 
to prepare a history of modern Spiritualism in this city : Henry T. Child, M. D. ; Isaac 
Rhen, Peter Osbom, Dr. J. L. Pierce, and George D. Henck. The following report 
iS 



2 74 HISTORY OF MODERN 

was read on Sunday, September 3, 1S66, by the chairman, and directed to be published in 
the Banner of Light, and Religio-Philosophical yoiirnal. 

'"There is probably no better illustration of one of the prominent teachings of modern 
Spiritualism than that which is given in Uie history of the movement in different localities. 
And yet, we believe it is well to recoi'd its history while it is fresh in our memories. . . 

. . . . In our times, the free thought of the age, born of our noble institutions, was 
lifting mankind into higher conditions, when Andrew Jackson Davis gave to the world his 
'Nature's Divine Revelations,' a volume which, though it contains much that is speculative 
and uncertain in our present state of unfoldment, was evidently the most suggestive work, 
not only of its inspired and faithful author, but of the age itself. 

" ' We believe that but few of us have realized the value of this book, marking as it did 
an era in human history, and especially in the history of our cause in this city. Soon after 
its appearance, the Psychological Society of this city, most of whose members have since 
been identified with our cause, believed it to be right to bring this book prominently before 
the public, while at the same time they desired to study it critically ; hence they rented a 
hall on Fourth street, known as Keim's Hall, and during the winter and spring of 1848 and 
1849, three evenings in the week were devoted to reading this book. The plan adopted — 
which we think might be pursued with profit with other profound works — was to read one 
hour and devote the remainder of the evening to criticisms by the audience of the portions 
read. These meetings were eagerly attended, and we have no doubt were productive of 
much good. The spirit of inquiry which had been awal'ened was spreading with rapidity ; 
a new era was dawning ; one which had been predicted by Mr. Davis in the book above 
alluded to, in which intelligent communications were brought to this world from the dwellers 
of the inner life. 

" ' The manifestations at Hydesville, New York, known as the Rochester knockings, 
which had commenced in 1848, although not new, were connected with the most important 
event of the century, namely, the discovery of an intelligence behind these, which not only 
attempted to explain their cause, but gave evidence of the identity of mdividual spkits who 
had passed from this sphere. On the 9th of October, 1850, the first circle was formed in 
this city, and for four months numerous meetings were held, without eliciting a single 
response. 

" ' On the evening of February 10, 1851, the sounds were heard, and the manifestations 
which have since become so common over the entire civilized world, were introduced. 

" 'About the 15th of February, 1851, the writer,* who, as a physician, was attending 
Mary Ann Wiggins, a young lady, who was a very sensitive clairvoyant and magnetic sub- 
ject, was informed that for some time past the family had heard the sounds around her bed. 
On this day, he was told that a brother in spirit-life had promised the medium that he 
would rap. Having waited for some time in vain, he was about to leave the room when 
three loud raps were heard upon the wall, at some distance from the bed of the patient. 
In a few days, these manifestations occurred readily and many persons were enabled to wit- 
ness them. 

" ' The circle above alluded to, and others which were subsequently formed, met during 
the summer of 1851 and the following winter. There were also some lectures given before 
the Psychological Society at Keim's Hall. In the April of 1862, some of the friends met, 
and in accordance with the directions given by the spirits at one of the circles, the ' Har- 
monial Benevolent Society ' was formed. The society held meetings every week, and on 
the 5th of May, 1852, appointed a committee, consisting of one'member from each of six 
different circles, to draft a plan of organization. On the 2d of June, the committee re- 
ported a short constitution, which was adopted, and twenty members joined the society, the 
object of which was of a benevolent character, and for the holding of spiritual meetings. 
Lectures were delivered by the members, and communications received of the circles were 
occasionally read. On the 9th of June, 1852, the committee decided to rent Frank- 
lin Hall, Skth street, for lectures on Sundays, for six months, from the first of July. 

* Dr. H. T. ChUd. 



AMERICAN' SPIRITUALISM. 275 

During tins time conferences were held, and at almost eveiy meeting new members weie 
added 

•"At a meeting held on the 6th of March, 1S53, it was moved that the board be in- 
structed to procm-e Concert Hal), for Sunday meetings for six months, if practicable. . . 

The arrangements were subsequently made for one year, and an agi"eement 

entered mto to pay one thousand dollars for the year ; but when the friends assembled on 
the Sunday morning, they found it closed against them. Preferring to yield peaceably rather 
tlian maintain their rights by a legal controversy, they concluded to return to FrankUn 
Hall 

" ' On the 23d of September, 1854, Aaron Comfort reported a proposition to hire San- 
som Street Hall at a rent of five lumdred dollars a year ; and m September, 1S55, the rent 
of Sansom Street Hall — which was occupied by the association for regular Sunday meetings 
— was reduced to four hundred dollars per annum. 

" 'Numerous changes occurred in the committee by death, removal, or resignation, and 
new members were added. The board continued to arrange for lectures, conferences, etc., 
depending upon subscriptions, and a fee of five cents at the door, until the 2d of August, 
1S64, when a report was made by them to a new organization, offering to disband the asso- 
ciation, if they would assume the engagements, accept the debt, take the hall, etc. ; which 
being acceded to, the board adjourned si7te die. Before noticing the action of ' the new 
organization, namely, the 'First Spiritualist Association,' which succeeded the board that 
for nine years arranged and carried out, very successfully, courses of lectures in Sansom Street 
Hall, it may be interesting to record the names of the various lecturers who occupied their 
rostrum. They were. Dr. Hallock, L. Judd Pardee, Dr. Robert Hare, Rev. T. L. Harris, Judge 
Edmonds, Rufus Elmer, J. H. Toohey, Charles Partridge, Rev. S. B. Britain, Joel Tiffany, 
Rev. Adin Ballou, Rev. R. P. Ambler, Mr. G. Stewart, A. J. Davis, Emerson Bennett, Maiy 
F. Davis, Miss Emma Jay, Dr. J. B. Dodds, Professor Mapes, Miss Sprague, Rev. William 
Fishbough, T. F. Coles, William D. Wharton, Miss Beebe, Dr. T. Orton, Isaac Rhen, 
Mr, Huntley, Mrs. Tuttle, S. J. Finney, W. S. Courtney, Peter Osborn, A. B. Whiting, 
Mrs. Emma Hardinge, Mrs. E. J. French, Mrs. Henderson, Mrs. Hyzer, Mrs. Platch, 
R. P. Wilson, Dr. J. L. Pierce, Rev. John Pierpont, Thomas GaJ.es Forster, Mrs. M. S. 
Townsend, Miss Lizzie Doten, Dr. H. T. Child. 

Besides the lectures, conferences were held during the summer months, in which various 
subjects were discussed, from time to time, by members of the society and others. Of the 
value of the lectures, embracing, as they have, a vast range of thought, often clothed in 
the most eloquent and impi-essive language, we need say nothing; the continued and in- 
creasing interest in the meetings is evidence that they have been appreciated ; and those who 
have attended them regularly have noticed that each year we have many new faces in our 
audiences ; so that while only hundreds can attend our meetings, thousands have received 
some portions of the truth sown by the various laborers 

" ' The history of Spiritualism in this city will not be completed without a reference to 
other meetings. We have alluded to the six circles, of which the first society was formed. 
Many others, both public and private, have existed since. Of the latter, we may not 
speak, except to say that their influence has been eminently calculated to benefit those who 
are seeking for a knowledge of the relations which subsist between the spirit-world and our 
own. The public circles, by fumishmg tests and other means of developing media, have 
been very useful ; several of these have been continued and well attended for years. 

" ' We shall conclude this brief sketch by a reference to the present organization, under 
whose auspices the meetings are held, entitled * The First Association of Spiritualists.' 
This society was formed by the adoption of a constitution on the 24th of July, 1S64. It 
numbers several hundered members and contributors. Its officers are : Dr. J. L. Pierce, 
President; M. B. Dyott and Louis Belrose, Vice-Presidents; James Trueman, Secretary; 
Henry T. Child, M. D., Treasurer; and the following Board of Directors: Mrs. RL B. 
Dyott, Isaac Rhen, Mrs. Belrose, Mrs. M. A. Stretch, Mr. and Mrs. Ballenger, Mr. and 
Mrs. Shumway, Mrs, A.. B. Wilson, Mrs. H. C. , Chase. 



2 76 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" ' One of the first acts of this association was to aljandon the fee of five cents at the 
door and depend upon vokmtary subscriptions and donations to meet the expenses of the 
lectures 

" ' Having received notice that Sansom Street Hall was to be used for other purposes, 
the committee were obliged to seek another place of meeting. After considerable in- 
quiry, we have concluded to rent Washington Plall for the present ; though we are fully 
aware it will not accommodate all who wish to attend the lectures this winter ; yet it was 
the most desii^able hall that could be obtained. We hope that the historian of next year 
will be be able to record the fact that the Spiritualists of Piiiladclphia, who now number 
several thousands, will possess a hall of their own capable of accommodating aU who niay 
desire to hear their lectures. 

" ' Among the most practical features of the spiritual movement, the children's progres- 
sive lyceum must rank foremost.* The success of these institutions in our city has been 
highly gratifying to all the friends of human progress who have witnessed these operations. 
The lyceum number one, luider the conductorship of Mr. M. B. Dyott, with an able corps 
of leaders, and nearly two hundred children in the groups, has a reputation second to none 
in our country : it Vv^ill be continued in this hall, and we hope with increasing success. 

" 'Another institution which owes its origin and success to oiir philosophy is the ' Pene- 
tralium,' a society which was organized in October, 1864, for the purpose of extending the 
investigation of scientific subjects into the realm of the spiritual. 

This society has held regular weekly meetings. The plan pursued is to have a short lec- 
ture, and then allow ten minutes to each speaker to present their views upon the subject 
under consideration. Of the utility of such a course there can be no doubt, and the success 
thus far has been very apparent. The audiences have been large and the range of subjects 
quite extensive. Amongst the lectures arranged for the coming winter are : one by Dr. 
Pancoast, on the ' structure, development, and functions of the nervous system ; ' one by 
Isaac Rhen, 'on the forces of nature,' to be illustrated by extensive experiments ; and one 
by Dr. Child, ' on life — its origin and objects.' 

" ' A prominent feature of the spiritual movement, which we must briefly notice, is the 
admission of woman to an equal position on the rostrum and in the executive with man ; 
an experiment which is no longer doubtful. Some of our best lecturers are to be found 
amongst those whom the Apostle Paul denied the right to speak in church, and whom the 
church has almost universally excluded. 

" ' In thus tracing the history of about eighteen years of our cause, one prominent fact is 
apparent : whereas, at the beginning of that period there were no Spiritualists, liberal and 
progressive minds were still looking and praying for the coming of a new era, to-day 
hundreds of thousands, it is said millions, are enrolled under our banner and within the 
ranks of Spiritualism. To say we believe such are happier and better for this knowledge is 
but to express the almost universal feeling of this very large class, who, having been intro- 
duced into a practical knowledge of the near relation and communion between the two 
worlds, the physical and the spiritual, feel that they have been blessed indeed, and that 
life has become a more important reality by a knowledge of its intimate connection with 
the life hereafter, which is still more real.' " 

Let it not be supposed that this sketch — which we have necessarily 
abridged from the original in some statistical details — comprehends all of 
the history of Spiritualism in Philadelphia, or indeed any other portion of it 
than the mere external features of its progress. 

The movement in that city has been pre-eminently distinguished for its sta- 
bihty, utility, and influence. All the best spirit mediums and speakers in Amer- 
ica have visited Philadelphia, and ever found in the houses of its warm-hearted 
citizens, the most hospitable, generous and practically Christian treatment. 

To go to Philadelphia to give lectures or manifestations of spirit power, 

* A full account of the rise and progress of the admirable movement kno\vn as the Children's Progressive 
Lyceum will be given iu our second volume. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 277 

required a priori, in the mediums, a good capital of spiritualistic endowments. 
Nothing less would be, or ever has been, tolerated amongst this refined and 
educated community ; but once satisfied of the value and genuine character 
of the phenomena displayed, no people have extended to the unresting feet 
of the v.^anderer, a nobler or more refreshing welcome, nor has any com- 
munity done more to sustain the hands of the laborers, whether in mortal 
or spirit life, than the faithful Philadelphians. 

Our limits have compelled us to omit many of the lecturers' names who 
have graced the Philadelphia rostrum since the formation of the last society 
on record, but we should fail to do justice to the genius of the movement, 
did we pass over that of one of the most constant and highly appreci- 
ated of the speakers who have occupied the desk of late years, namely, 
Mrs. Augusta Currier. This lady, without possessing any of the natural or 
acquired advantages that arise from wealth and educational preparation, may 
be regarded as one of those phenomenal children of the spiritual movement, 
who form in themselves a complete evidence of supra-mundane power and 
guidance. Youth, a pleasing external appearance, and naturally graceful 
bearing, were the little lady's only claims to public attention ; yet, springing 
from a position of hum.ble respectability only, she made her way through all 
the various stages of strong physical test mediumship, clairvoyance, and 
other remarkable spiritual gifts, until, without human aid, instruction or pat- 
ronage, she gravitated to her legitimate place, as one of the most brilliant, 
eloquent, and attractive speakers of the day. Those who prepared her for, 
and placed her in this exalted position, where Avholly unseen in this world, 
unknown to men, and in fact not "of the earth, earthy;" yet the most pro- 
found logicians, renowned scientists, and accomplished orators, have paled 
before this once-obscure young woman, and looked with marvel and fruitless 
curiosity for the source of her unearthly power. Never have the promises of 
the prophets and apostles been more wonderfully fulfilled than in this 
gifted medium, who has truly testified, that "the weak things of earth should 
confound the wise," and "the ignorance of the foolisli put to shame the 
tmderstanding of the prudent." 

As Mrs. Currier's various gifts have been gradually unfolded, her experience 
has proved a remarkable exception to the general rule, that " one endow- 
ment supersedes another j" her " gift of tongues" has been superadded to that 
of her physical mediumship, but the latter has not failed in consequence, and 
it has been one of the attendant charms of her eloquent addi^esses, that the 
mystic raps sound through them, in frequent and emphatic chorus to her 
■sentences. As a more extended notice of this interesting medium will be 
found hereafter in our book of biographical sketches, we need only further 
add that her frequent ministrations on the Philadelphia rostrum have been 
as acceptable as beneficial to the cause in that city. 

Another of the fair missionaries who helped to dispense the bread of spirit- 
ual life, though unnamed in the preceding quotations, was Miss Mattie C. 
Beckwith, a highly-esteemed favorite of the refined Philadelphians ; also, Mrs. 
Middlebrook, late Mrs. Henderson, of whose noble services in the cause of 
Spiritualism we shall hereafter make further mention. 

As the original favorites of the rostrum were gradually removed, by calls 
to the higher life or changes in their own earthly arrangements, the promise 
of old, that " the very stones would cry out " in testimony for the truth, 
seemed to be realized, for fresh inspirations continued to pour from the 
mouths of "babes and sucklings" or animate the most unlooked-for instru- 
ments to arise and dispense the bread of life to hungering souls. 



278 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Philadelphia has herself been rich in internal missionary labor. Besides 
that giant of the movement, Dr. Robert Hare, Dr. H. T. Child, Mr. lasa^^ 
Rhen, Mr. M. B. Dyott, Dr, Pancoast, and several other gentlemen of learn- 
ing and intellectual endowments, have filled the spiritual rostrum with quite 
as much acceptance as the lecturers from abroad. Thus, the movement has 
never slumbered in that city, or lacked the oil by which the lamps of immor- 
tality could be kept brightly burning. In no part of the States has the 
celebrated movement entitled the "Children's Progressive Lyceum" taken 
so deep a hold on the people, or performed so great a missionary work, as in 
Philadelphia. Without desiring to, appear partial in selecting individuals for 
notice, where all have labored so long and faithfull)^, it is but justice to own 
that this pre-eminence is due to the indefatigable labors of Mr. and Mrs. 
M. B. Dyott, whose lives for several years past seem to have been mainly 
devoted, with a self-sacrifice, disinterestedness, and endurance, beyond all 
worldly praise or appreciation, to the success of this deeply, important under- 
taking. When it is remembered that in these "lyceums" are laid the very 
corner-stone, and foundations upon vvhich the faith of future generations is to 
be built ; that in their early training, and habitudes of spiritual thought, is to 
be found the corrective for the bigotry, superstition, and ignorance of the past, 
and the bitter persecutions through Avhich the present generation have had 
to struggle, — the vast and momentous influence of this movement may be 
prophetically felt, and something of the stupendous debt which posterity will 
owe to its founder, A. J. Davis, and such workers as Mr. and Mrs. Dyott, 
be conceived of. Amidst much of worldly ingratitude, misconception, and 
ancient bigotry, lingering even amidst the spiritual ranks, it is gratifying to 
be able to record, that the lucid intellects of the young generation, springing 
up around us, brightened into quick perception by the day-beams of Spirit- 
ualism, have ill part realized the value of these unselfish labors : witness 
a handsome service of plate, which quite recently was presented, in the 
form of a genuine surprise party, to Mr. and Mrs. Dyott, by the grateful 
teachers and members of the Philadelphia Progressive Lyceum. 

Highly interesting features of the movement, connecting the " Progi'essive 
Lyceum" with the most sacred interests of Spiritualism, have been the 
interments — funerals we cannot call them — which have consigned the mor- 
tal remains of those broken caskets, from which the bright spirits have 
escaped, to the dust from which they were temporarily gathered up, as 
moulds for the formation of immortal blossoms. At these ceremonies, all 
the sweetest, holiest, and withal the most consolatory exercises of the Pro- 
gressive Lyceums have been introduced ; groups of fair young children, whose 
blossoming beauty was in itself a prophecy of life immortal ; processions of 
mature people, chiefly arrayed in, or adorned with pure white and floral em- 
blems, typical of the love and truth, life, light, and beauty of the spirit coun- 
try; into which the freed soul had been born, —all these spoke not of 
gloom, sorrow, or impenetrable mystery ; no more of death, bereavement, 
and agonizing grief, made hideous by the awful panoply of external signs, but 
of deep sympathy with the bright, holy, and happy change, by which some 
beloved one had been made glorified, and which consigned the worn-out 
garments of mortality back to its kindred earth. 

No over-strained or unnatural tokens of rejoicing have been manifested 
at these "spiritual birthdays." The decorum of the processions, the solemn 
order of the ceremonial, the pathetic, yet elevating songs and recitations, of 
the children, the highly exalted tone in which the orators pronounced the 
valedictory to the departing soul, all displayed the tenderest sympathy foi 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 279 

the great heart-wrench involved m sucli a change, and a glorious assurance 
of continued life and a bright progressive future for the enfranchised soul. 
Besides many mediums of the highest intellectual character, Philadelphia 
has been visited by all the best travelling physical mediums, some of Avhom 
have been occasional residents there. Amongst these was the celebrated 
Henry Gordon, of whom Dr. Hallock related, at the New York Conference, 
the following striking evidence of phenomenal power, exliibited during one 
of his (the Doctor's) Sunday discourses in that city: 

"Dr. Hallock stated that on the previous Sunday afternoon, at the commencement of a 
lecture he was delivering before the SpirituaUsts of Philadelphia, tliere was a great deal of 
spirit manifestation m the form of rappings, etc., which attracted much notice, and created 
such a disturbance in the minds of the audience, that at one time he was a little annoyed 
lest due attention should not be paid to what he was saying, and his effort would be lost if 
that state of things continued. But he soon forgot his concern, and went on with his 
remarks, and succeeded in entirely fastening the attention of the congregation upon the 
subject he was presenting ; and while, as he believed, every eye and all thoughts were 
directed towards him, Mr. Henry Gordon the well-known physical medium, who then sat 
at some distance from, but in front of him, in the perfectly well-lighted room, rose in the 
air without any human aid, tiU the speaker beheld hun floating so high that his feet 
just grazed the top of the seat, above which he hung in the air, where he swayed about 
from side to side and turned partly around. By this time the attention of the entire con- 
gregation was rivetted on him, when he sank to the ground. The manifestation was imper- 
fect on the part of the power that lifted him up, because it was afterwards declared by the 
spirits that they intended to have carried him over the heads of the entire congi^egation, 
and landed him on the rostrum, had the conditions permitted, but it seemed that the mtense 
astonishment and agitation of the audience had broken the conditions of passivity necessaiy 
for the fulfilment of their design, and so he sank suddenly to the ground. Still there 
remained the phenomenon of his having been lifted up and suspended in the air without 

mortal aid, in fact, in a manner which no mortal could have achieved The 

effect of this marvellous operation of spirits in a crowded assembly and the full light of day, 
instead of attracting the attention of the audience from the address, intensified it to the 
utmost degree. 'I think I may say,' added Dr. Hallock, 'that I never was m an assembly 
where so much serene joy and spiritual exaltation was manifested. Each one felt that it 
was good to be there. I cannot describe that Pentecostal scene in words." 

Our limits compel us here to close our notice of Spiritualism in Philadel- 
phia. We need scarcely say, the half has not been told ; neither do these 
brief sketches define the extent of the movement throughout the vast area 
of the State of Pennsylvania, where numbers of places we cannot pause to 
notice cherish the faith with strong and zealous affection. In Corry, a small 
but flourishing town in the oil regions, spiritual meetings are regularly held 
each Sabbath. Some very excellent mediums are to be found there, and an 
abundance of phenomena is exhibited. 

Titusville, a neighboring town, is also a stronghold of the belief A curi- 
ous evidence of healing power was exhibited in this place, and one which 
served greatly to popularize the cause of Spiritualism. The wife of Mr. B., 
a gentleman of large means and influence, residing in Titusville, had become, 
through a painful complication of internal ailments, a confirmed invalid ; in 
fact, though quite a young woman, Mrs. B. had been confined to her bed for a 
period of over three years. Enduring the most intense suffering, and her case 
baffling all the skill of such medical aid as that wild district could supply, the 
unhappy lady cherished but one wish in her forlorn and hopeless condition, 
and that was, that death Avould speedily terminate her mournful existence, and 
relieve her friends and family from what she could not but feel Avas a heavy 
burden upon them. Her tender and devoted companion, having become in- 
terested in Spiritualism, jo^-fuUy hailed the approach of all who professed 
that faitli, in the hope that some amongst them, spiritually guided, might 



28o HISTORY OF MODERN 

bring relief to his long-suffering partner, but months, and at length years, 
glided by without any realization of their vain hopes, which finally gave 
way to resignation on the part of the husband, and despair on that of the 
wife. One day a singular cou]ile of itinerants, husband and wife, presented 
themselves at the residence of Mr. B., claiming, rather than requesting, hospi- 
tality, on the ground that the male traveller was a healing medium, and had 
been sent there by the spirits " to effect some great cure." 

The man, whose name was " McFadden," did not seem even to know the 
sex or quality of die patient he was to operate upon, yet he insisted that he 
had "a work to do there," and as his mild and gentle wife seconded his affu-- 
mation, Mr. B., though without any very strong prepossession in their favor, 
consented to receive them for a while into his house. For the best interests 
of truth, it is well that the vv'hole circumstances of this strange case should be 
fully understood. 

McFadden was represented to the author, not only by the parties most 
nearly concerned in this narrative, namely, Mr. and Mrs. B. themselves, but 
also by others well acquainted with him, as a man of repulsive manners and 
appearance, and one, moreover, so addicted to the use of profane language 
that he seemed scarcely able to speak without expressions painful to the sen- 
sitive ear to listen to. His Avife vv^as mild, unassuming, and benevolent, and ex- 
cept for her association with her strange companion, would, doubtless, have 
proved a welcome visitor anywhere. When first introduced to the bedside 
of Mrs. B., a highly refined and sensitive person, the medium was literally 
thrown back from her couch, as if with an electric shock, by the force of re- 
pulsion which the lady at once conceived for the. strange operator. Flis 
wife, who stood by at the time, besought Mrs. B. to make an effort to over- 
come this intense disgust, frequently declaring that " they had been sent to 
cure her and must do their work, although her repulsive feeling would for a 
time inevitably hinder them." In vain the lady strove to accept of this kindly 
assurance, and conquer her aversion to the rude operator. No sooner would 
he approach her than he fell back v/ith the same singular magnetic force as 
before ; and the two poles of a battery, scientifically arranged to exhibit the 
nature of repulsion, could not have operated v/ith more marvellous power 
than the patient and her would-be healer. And still he persisted in his at- 
tempt, swearing, even with oaths, that he must and would effect a cure ; 
that for such a purpose he had been sent, and without its accomplishment he 
might not depart on his way. 

On a certain occasion, after a long and hitherto ineffectual trial, the rough 
doctor, aided by his gentle companion, succeeded in producing, by distant 
manipulations over the couch of Mrs. B., the the charmed magnetic sleep. 
Awaking from this delightful somnolence, refreshed and invigorated, Mrs. B. 
remarked that she had not been so free from pain for three years, and that at 
length she was convinced the true physician to her malady had arrived. 
From this time the spell was broken. The intense magnetic repulsion be- 
ing overcome, kindlier and more receptive- influences, supervened. The 
strange healer performed his work with grateful appreciation on the part 
of the lady, and rugged determination on his own, and within six weeks 
the bed-ridden invalid Avas once more in the midst of her family, perform- 
ing, in perfect health and renewed strength, her household duties, with as 
much ease and capacity as if they had never been interrupted b}^ her long 
and perilous years of suftering. tier cure was effected solely by the la3'ing 
on of those hands from which a few weeks before she had shrunk with such 
loathing, but which she now humbly and graj;efully acknowledged had come 

.#■ 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 281 

to her frei^^hted with the inestimable boon of hfe and health. ]\Ir. and Mrs. 
B. related this circumstance at a Pentecostal gathering, which had assembled 
to meet the author when lecturing for a few days at Cony, en route for the fai 
West. The snow was two foot deep on the gi'ound and still falling fast. 
The roads were almost impassable, yet the once bedridden lady had trav- 
elled in that inclement season above fifty miles to attend the author's lectures, 
and bear her grateful testimony to the beneficent character of Spiritualism 
and its missionaries. 

The conversation had turned on the prevalence of " spiritual mounte- 
banks" and itinerant vagabonds, who, scouring the country in every direction, 
used the talismanic word " Spiritualism " as their opeii sesame to the hospi- 
talities of the credulous. It was these remarks that called forth the history 
above detailed, which, being related by Mr. and Mrs. B. with tears of deep 
emotion, and verified by several of their acquaintances present, who were 
personally cognizant of the facts, was summed up by the husband in the 
assurance that though he believed there were many impostors ranging the 
country and attempting to deceive people out of a maintenance by false pro- 
fessions, yet for the sake of the one divinely guided missionary who had 
brought in his hand the life of his best beloved, all had since been welcome 
who had crossed their threshold in the sacred name of "the spirits." "I 
can never again close those doors against the wanderer," he added, "which 
have been opened to ' entertain an angel unawares.' " 

InMeadville, Pennsylvaina, a numerous body of Spiritualists may be found, 
who, although laboring under many disabilities peculiar to the advent of a new 
and unpopular movement, have struggled on bravely, and given a tone to the 
belief of these wild and remote districts where the name of Spiritualism is no 
longer regarded as a bugbear, but rather as a warranty for strange and bene- 
ficent powers, whose possession invests their owner with gifts which are 
deemed worthy of investigation and respect. 

In Meadville resides Dr. John Newcomer, a gentleman who unites in 
his own person the many gifts of inventor, mechanic, herbalist, doctor, heal- 
ing medium, lecturer writer, astronomer, designer of certain remarkably in- 
genious astronomical instruments, and originator of a most singular prophetic 
scheme of the earth's destiny. Besides these varied accomplishments. Dr. 
John Newcomer plays on two or tliree musical instruments, one of Vv'hich, of 
a lute fashion, originated in his own fertile genius and mechanical skill. In 
an office open for the sale of various healing compounds, all originated by 
himself, the visitor would find it difficult to think of any articles of domestic 
use, herbs, minerals, drugs or machines, even models of the earth, orreries 
and musical instruments, which are not to be here found, on " improved princi- 
ples ; " in fact this wonderful sanctum is the omniujii gatherum of a very com- 
prehensive mind, which represents itself and the universe in equally micro- 
cosmic characters. As Dr. Newcomer is a very uncompromising Spiritualist, 
the other world and its interests come in for an equal share of illustrative 
talent, the full scope of which appears in a hall which Dr. Newcomer has fitted 
up, and hires at his own expense, for the purpose of devoting freely to the 
service of Spiritualism. 

This building ^^ill accommodate about two hundred persons ; is neatly fur- 
nished with a small platform and seats, whilst the walls are adorned ^^'ith a 
large collection of oil-paintings executed by the versatile proprietor of the hall, 
highly colored and elaborately finished. They form, altogether, a serial and 
pictorial commentary on the biblical account of creation, together with tlie 
artist's own viev/s of the hereafter, as derived from the popular teachings of 



282 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Spiritualism. Although Dr. Newcomer's pictures and tlie opinions they illus 
trate, like every other production of his remarkable genius, are strictly orig- 
inal, and form no direct aliinity with any other person's acts or works or 
words, that the most cosmopolitan visitor could ever have encountered, the 
theological views they suggest cannot fail to remind the beholder more im- 
mediately of Tom Paine, Volney, and the English Robert Taylor, than of 
the Patriarch Abraham and the Apostle Paul ; nevertheless, these and other 
"sacred" personages are freely represented on Dr. Newcomer's glowing can- 
vas ; but as they generally figure in the same scene where certain Divine per- 
sonages are represented as pronging souls out of heaven with celestial thun- 
derbolts, whilst other diabolical personages stir them up in burning broth with 
brimstone pitchforks, and the "everlasting Yankee" is introduced with the 
hook and line of combined benevolence and ingenuity, fishing them up and 
restoring them to earth, it may be supposed that these biblical illustrations 
are not designed on the most approved theological pattern. They are very 
numerous, however, and highly suggestive. 

The ludicious and the horrible are represented in terribly faithful proximity ; 
and a more graphic commentary on the heavens, hells, saints, sinners, angels, 
and demons, brimstone and blue fire, in which ancient orthodoxy dehghted to 
revel, from the gloomy Calvin to the stern Emmons, and Avhich modern or- 
thodoxy has not altogether quenched in the tides of modern progress, has 
never surely found a more fearless or imaginative illustrator than this same 
singular Pennsylvania artist. It need scarcely be hinted that Dr. John New- 
comer is not popular with the church-going community of his district, and as 
his very direct and peculiar methods of propagating his opinions have ob- 
tained for him a wide-spread notoriety and most obnoxious reputation, they 
have served to isolate him even from many worldly persons who sympathize 
in part, though not entirely with his extreme views. 

In the author's visit to Meadville for the purpose of delivering two lectures 
in that collegiate town, she realized most painfully the lines of demarcation 
which strongly marked idiosyncracies draw between their professors and man- 
kind in general. The progressive spirit which already animated at least one 
half of the young students and professors of a fine Unitarian college at Mead- 
ville, induced their attendance at the lectures, and manifested itself in a noble 
complimentary testimonial which a few high-minded and talented young men 
presented to her in grateful acknowledgment of her definition of "the beau- 
tiful faith and philosophy of Spiritualism ; " and yet these brave and aspiring 
young spirits were driven off with repelling force from the strange old philoso- 
pher, who could have suggested, aye, and taught them so much that their eager 
souls were hungering for, had not himself and his methods of presenting the 
truth been so eminently distasteful to their sense of propriety and refinement. 
Dr. John Newcomer was also an excellent healing medium. His strong 
hands, freighted with health, and his kuid heart would gladly have spread 
abroad this blessing to all around him. The indescribably odd old man 
might be seen any day with basket on arm, gathering up medicinal herbs and 
plants of healing virtue, which would have been cheerfully drawn forth from 
the shelves of his wonderful little museum for the free use of the afflicted, 
were there not a ban on the place, and a breath of evil signing the dark stair- 
way which led to it, with an invisible yet potent circle, into which it was 
deemed ill for the foot of good repute to enter. 

Strange isolation of a kind heart, ready hand, and highly endowed brain ! 
Strange and cross-grained woof of human destiny which has converted an 
instrument of blessing into a tool of offence ! Dr. John Newcomer and the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 283 

world, require the bright transfiguration of the land of light, truth, and charity, 
to understand, mutually forgive, and mutually appreciate each other. 

Our limits will only permit us to notice two more points of interest in Pennsyl- 
vania, although the whole State abounds with such, in the history of Spiritual- 
ism ; the first of these is Morristown, near Philadelphia, less remarkable how- 
ever, for its little faithful band of Spiritualists than as having been the resi- 
dence of one of the most talented advocates of the cause. Miss Belle Bush, 
the charming poetess and writer, whose gems of thought have contributed so 
largely to the reputation of spiritual literature. The second and last note- 
worthy point which we can notice in this noble State, is Brookfield, famous as 
the scene of a great spiritual outporing, vrhich occurred quite early in the 
modern movement under the following circumstances. 

Amongst the Methodists, Shakers, and other fervid sects of religionists, 
marked and preternatural tokens of a spiritual afflatus had been frequent ever 
since the famous revival which preceded the Rochester knockings by some 
ten years. Certain sections of country, called " the burnt districts " from 
having been swept by the action of the Pentecostal fires, still preserved the 
evidences of the mighty visitation in the strange and apparently fanatical as- 
sociations which sprang \\\i amongst them. Spiritual philosophers attributed 
many of the eccentricities both of the revival and spiritual movements to the 
effect of magnetism, stimulated into violent and in'esistible action by the con- 
tagion of the times. Unphilosophical religionists called them the work of 
the "Holy Ghost" or the "Evil One," according as their sectarian prejudices 
inclined. The following narrative, reprinted in part from the Spiritual Tele- 
g7'aph^ is a well-anthenticated account of one of these singular revival fevers, 
the details of which seem to be so closely allied to Spiritualism, that it claims 
its legitimate place in our notice of that movement in Pennsylvania. Mr. 
Partridge, in his editorial account of what follows, states that the Rev. John 
Crapsey was a minister of the high ecclesiatical school at Brookfield, Tioga 
County, Pennsylvania, and that, at a meeting Avhich he was holding in 
Roulette, Potter County, Pennsylvania, just as he was quoting the words of 
Jesus on the cross, " Eli, Eli, lama Sabachtkani.'' 

"A mighty invisible power seemed suddenly to possess him, and a luminous appearance 
scintillated upon and around his hand, shining with brilliant effulgence in the eyes of aU. 
beholders. 'Under an impulse which I could not resist, I sprang,' says Mr. Crapsey, 
' from the desk out upon the middle of the floor into the midst of the congregation ; gi-eat 
signs and wonders then ensued and were witnessed by all. 

*' ' Fire, and pillars of smoke and luminous light rose up bodUy in our midst ; men, women, 
and even stammering children were seized, speaking with new tongues, and uttering prophe- 
cies. Prayers and exhortations were poured forth in abundance, and many of the congre- 
gation broke out into the most marvellous and heavenly smging.' " 

But the demonstrations of this Pentecostal hour did not terminate with the 
close of that meeting. They came together again and again, meeting some- 
times each day and occasionally in the night, when similar manifestations 
accompanied their gatherings, and continued up to the date of the Telegraph's 
report, about June, 1855. Mr. Crapsey goes on to say that at times, certain of 
the persons affected, who were chiefly young people from ten to thirty years 
of age, would come to him, and enact in pantomime a spiritual or prophetic 
drama, showing that he would be subject to much persecution. Sometimes 
also the house where they were assembled would shake, and "even rock 
about as if in a gale of wind, although the air without was as still as death." 
They usually held their meetings in a building, the lower portion of v/hich 



284 HISTORY OF /MODERN' 

was used as a school, and the shaking of the house became so violent that 
the teachers were compelled to dismiss the scholars, as "they could not write 
and feared to remain upon the premises." 

After this excitement had continued until the whole neighborhood be- 
came stirred by it, a public meeting was held in the place, and a committee 
appointed to wait on Mr. Crapsey and request him to quit the neighborhood. 
This he refused to do, when the prophetic warnings of the spiritual drama 
were realized by Mr. Crapsey' s arrest on a false charge of his having as- 
saulted some members of his congregation. A trial ensued, but as nothing 
reprehensible could be proved against the minister, and not a witness could 
be found who did not take part with him in this strange excitement, he was 
ultimately discharged ; but as the disturbances continued with greater force 
than ever, a fresh committee waited on him, with the offer of a sum of money, 
conditional upon his instant departure, an offer which he promptly and indig- 
nantly rejected. Finding their efforts to di'ive him out or quench the ob- 
noxious manifestations in vain, Mr. Crapsey' s opponents now began to 
resort to open violence and a continued series of persecutions. Himself and 
his congregation were denied entrance to any building in the neighborhood, 
and v/hen they sought shelter in woods, groves, or forests, they were set 
upon, the woods fired, and themselves stormed and hooted at. 

And yet it often happened that the bands of disturbers who set upon these 
gatherings were so struck with the flashing of the preternatural lights, the 
rocking of the trees, trembling earth, and the pathetic appeals of the en- 
tranced speakers, that their acts of violence were changed into tones of prayer, 
and they joined the revivalists in their celebrations, leaping, singing, shudder- 
ing, and praying, under the same inevitable afflatus as themselves. 

Mr. Pendleton, a gentleman who was at that time a resident of Brookfield, 
and an eye witness and participator in their Pentecostal meetings, affirmed 
that himself and many others saw angelic beings moving about in their midst, 
and that often "the spirits of dead persons" were seen and described with 
such accuracy that their friends and relations could not doubt but that 
" truly their loved and lost ones were arisen from the grave, and come back 
in life amongst them. " The phenomena of mediumship which would ac- 
count for the preternatural lights and movements around them, no less than 
the open vision which recognized the forms of the beloved departed, liad not 
yet become sufficiently well known and understood in those remote sections 
of country to resolve themselves into a part of an orderly and universal 
movement, hence for a long time their manifestation, as above narrated, was 
regarded as a special Pentecostal outpouring, which predicated the speedy 
approach of the long expected "millennium." 

As the report of kindred phenomena, occurring in other parts of the State, 
reached the " possessed district," its preternatural characteristics disappeared, 
the excitement subsided, and the orderly development of medium powers in 
and amongst Mr. Crapsey' s congregation changed the fever into the normal 
and healthy tone of Spiritualism. 

Our space will not allow us to pause longer on the progress of the spiritual 
movement in Pennsylvania, or to notice, except eji passant, its many remarka- 
ble developments in Washington and Baltimore. Frequent allusions to the 
extraordinary mediumistic gifts displayed in both cities will be found scat- 
tered through these pages, and a brief notice of the highly-gifted Laurie 
family in Washington, and Colonel Danskin and his amiable lady in Balti- 
more, will be given in our biographical sketches. 

For the present we can only pause to remark that amongst the many ex- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 285 

cellent mediums in Baltimore, the most distinguished for her professional ser- 
vices was a Mrs. Morrel, a superior rapping, writing, physical, and test medium. 
Amongst other singular phases of intercourse between the two worlds, a very 
striking one was exhibited in Baltimore also, through the mediumship of Mrs. 
Danskin, a lady moving in the first circles of the city, but who, in her fidelity 
to the cause of Spiritualism, nobly ignored the scofis and sneers of her asso- 
ciates, and devoted her remarkable powers as a trance medium to the ser- 
vice of those who could not be satisfied to investigate through a professional 
source. Besides gifts of claii-voyance, ps)xhometry, and healing, Mrs. Dan- 
skin was peculiarly distinguished as a medium through whom " dark " or "un- 
developed" spirits could return and manifest to earth the deplorable ship- 
wrecks which crime and ignorance had made of their souls. The interviews 
with these suffering, earth-bound beings were often tlirilling and full of warn- 
ing and instruction. 

These circles, as well as others of a similar kind held in various parts of the 
country, made a profound impression on the community, and induced 
many persons, from motives of curiosity no less than interest, to inquire 
more closely into the relations sustained between the inhabitants of earth, 
and the dwellers of the spirit country. The vague notions so loosely incul- 
cated by theology on the conditions of compensation and retribution in 
the hereafter, were entirely put to flight by the revelations of these circles. 
The idea that earthly criminals could continue such as spirits, and receive 
the same benefit from human counsel as they could have done had they re- 
mained in the fonn, was a doctrine so entirely subversive of all precon- 
ceived opinions on such subjects, that their promulgation was met with the 
most profound scepticism, and sometimes even by indignant denial. It 
was only, then, by the persistent efforts of such respected missionaries as Mrs. 
Danskin, and other ladies who held circles for the progression of " undeveloped 
spirits," that this singular phase of the communion between the two worlds 
began to be understood, and the possibihty that we are " all ministering spirits," 
slowly to dawn upon the minds of earth's inhabitants, not as a mere biblical 
phrase, but as a solemn and divine mission which we should endeavor to 
put into practical reality for the benefit no less of spirits in the form than for 
the sake of those whom the disabilities of false systems have sent from earth 
still in conditions of ignorance and crime. 

As this portion of the spiritual philosophy must be reserved for a more 
full and special notice, we shall now pass on to consider, in detail, the Spirit- 
uaUsm of those vast sections of country so graphically entitled "the 
mighty West" 



286 HISTORY OF MODERN' 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE WEST BUFFALO. 

" Strange glory gleams through life's wild rents : 
And through the open door of death, 
We see the heaven that bcckoneth 
To the beloved ones going hence." 

Gerald Massey. 

Character of Western Spiritualism — Manifestations of Messrs. Sansster 
AND Reed in Buffalo — Mrs. Swain — Still Further West — Columbus, 
Ohio — The "Crowing" Medium — "Elemental Spirits" — "The Devil" 
AT Armory Hall. 

The course of our history now carries us into those more remote districts 
which he west of the scenes we have hitherto been describing, and which 
are generally called by the title of "the West." 

Our subject in this connection becomes, like the immense geographical 
area it includes, almost beyond the pen of the historian to describe. 

The utmost we can hope to achieve is a brief notice of such sections of 
country as have been distinguished by the presence of remarkable personages, 
or 'the abundance of supra-mundane phenomena. 

In both these respects, Buffalo, which forms the extreme western point of 
New York State, has undoubtedly a claim to take a prominent rank in the 
history of Spiritualism. 

As the city where the Davenport Brothers, Cora Scott, Miss Brooks, and 
other distinguished media resided and first manifested their marvellous power, 
Buffalo became quite early celebrated in the spiritual movement ; nor Avas its 
fame less widely spread from the fact that it was the scene of the farce en- 
acted by the notorious "Buffalo Doctors," in connection with the visit of 
the Misses Fox, as detailed in a preceding chapter. 

Reserving notices of its principal mediatorial personages for future biograph- 
ical sketches, we shall simply pause to record some of the phenomenal circles 
held there by persons less generally known in the history of the remarkable 
movement. 

The medium in the cases cited as follows, was a young gentleman [not 
professional] whose position in society placed him above the reach of sus- 
picion on the ground of interested motives, and whose character was remark- 
able for veracity and simple directness of purpose. 

We shall quote Mr. Albro's version of the narrative as it appeared in the 
Age of Progress of January 3, 1857. 

" MANIFESTATION EXTRAORDINARY. 

"On Saturday evening last, at our weeldy developing circle, we had a manifestation, 
the like of which we have never witnessed except at Davenport's. A young gentleman of 
the name of Sangster, of this city, was in attendance, who is a medium of extraordinary 
character for physical manifestations. Our principal speaking medium being absent, it was 
proposed to have a dark circle and see what we could get tlirough Mr. Sangster's medium- 
ship. 

" The proposition was met with general approbation, and the necessary preparations were 
made. 

" As soon as the light was removed, rapping was heard, the alphabet was called, and it 
was spelled out : ' Let Mr. Albro tie the medium's hands.' We did so, using a silk handker- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 287 

cliief, which we tmsted into a hard rope. With this we tied one hand, making a hard square 
knot over tue wrist, drawing it as tight as the medium could bear it without stopping the 
circulation of the blood. We then put his hands behind him and tied the other hand equally- 
tight using up the whole of the handkerchief in similar hard knots. In this position it was 
impossible for him, with all his physical powers, to free Irimself. This done the light was 
again removed, and the medium left alone in one comer of the room, whilst the circle all 
sat with their hands joined. Directly the spirit rapped and called for the light. It was 
brought in, when the medium was found exactly as we had left him, minus his coat, which 
had been taken off by the spirits, even while his hands were tied as we have described. After 
tymg him, we had called upon all the members of the cu"cle to examine and test the knots, 
and all did the same again, bearing unanimous testimony to the fact that the knots were ex- 
actly as we had tied them, not a single fastening showing the appearance of having been 
touched. 

" The tying of the medium occupied several minutes; the removal of the coat must have 
occurred m a few seconds only. Again the light was removed, the circle joined hands as be- 
fore, and again before we had been well seated, the raps signalled for the light, which being 
produced, we found the medium with his coat on, the knots still remaining intact, and the 
hands bound behind him as before. Leaving the medium then securely tied, the piano was 
turned with its face to the wall. The medium sat by it, aU joined hands, and the light was 
removed. Singing was called for, when an accompaniment was played on the piano, it be- 
ing, as above stated, face to the wall in such a position that no human being could have 
touched it. We then asked the spirits if the medium's hands should be untied, and received 
an answer in the affirmative. We asked if the spirit would untie him, which was also prom- 
ised, and in a minute after the handkerchief was thrown upon our own head. The light 
was brought ; the medium was found at liberty. On again removing the light, the raps sig- 
nalled us to place the handkerchief on the piano ; this done, and the light again brought in 
a minute or two after, we fomrd the medium tied with his hands, much as we had secured 
him, only with more complicated and even firmer knots. This closed the mar\'eIlous per- 
formance. 

" These circumstances are attested by all who examined theloiots, and every person pi-es- 
ent is willing, if required, to make oath to the truth of the statement ; also, that they were 
at no time within reach of the medium during the removal and return of the coat, and never 
for one moment disjoined hands in the circle, except when required to produce the light. 
The medium is a young man of high respectability, and of modest, unassuming deportment, 
nor was there one present against whose veracity a word could be hazarded. We should 
like to know how gentlemen of the jMahan school can account for these phemomena. Did 
odyle do it all? We are aware of the explanation that will be offered by the clergy, who 
are at last compelled to admit that these things are done. They will of course decide at 
once upon the agency of his satanic majesty. But if it were indeed the original devil of or- 
thodoxy, we should suppose his fingers would burn a fabric so easily ignitable as a silk hand- 
kerchief." 

N. B. — Mr. Albro forgot the new school of fiends introduced by the Rev. - 
Charles Beecher. 

As these are such experts at ropes, etc., may they not be equally non-com- 
bustible in handling silk handlcerchiefs ? 

The next account which occurs of Mr. Sangster's mediumship, is furnished 
by Mr. Giles Husted, an old and highly respected citizen of Buffalo, whom 
Mr. Albro very properly cites in pubUshing his report, " as an authority of 
unimpeachable worth." Mr. Husted writes to the Age of Progress as follows : 

"Buffalo, March 17, 1857. 

"Friend Albro, — I send you a statement of sortie singular manifestations, which I 
term ' spiritual,' that have recently occurred at my house. 

" By appointment some friends met at my house on an occasion when the spirits had 
promised, if possible, to give us some extraordinary manifestations. They ordered us to tie 
the medium, Mr. Sangster, most securely, and then, locking him in a thoroughly searched 
and fastened room, form a circle in the room adjoining. After each person was well satis- 
fied that the medium was as securely confined as ropes, knots, locks, and bolts, could make 
him, we formed a circle in an adjoining room, which ^■^'as well lighted. After sitting some 
twenty minutes, during which time we could hear loud noises in the room with the medium, 
such as the shifting of furniture, the knocking of heavy bodies again ;t the ceiling, and heavj 



288 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

poundings, etc. ; loud and successive raps gave the signal for the alphabet which spelled out 
in our room : ' Look for the coat. ' 

" We did so with some surprise, commencing our search in our own room, where we im- 
mediately found it [the coat] folded up under a chair about the centre of the room. Our 
whole party can testify on oath that the door had never been opened since we entered the 
room ; the lights were burning brightly the whole time, and not a movement had been made 
amongst us; in fact, confederacy, had the character of any one present admitted of such an 
hypothesis, was simply impossible, or too absurd to be thought of 

" On entering the circle room we found it locked and bolted, with every rope, knot, and 
fastening exactly as we had left them, and the medium sitting bound hand and foot, without 
his coat, which we had possession of 

" In a circle held the 3d of March, we were directed by the spirits to lock the piano forte, 
and seal the key-hole with wax, and in that condition the spirits played on both strings and 
keys. 

" WiU some of the wise ones of this age explain these manifestations on any other hypoth- 
esis than the spiritual one ? 

" Respectfully yours, 

"Giles Husted." 

Mr. Albro writes of a second circle still more interesting than the first, as 
follows : 

AGE OF PROGRESS. 

"Buffalo, March 20, 1857. 

"On the evening of the 17th inst., after Mr. Husted had sent me the above communication, 
I called at his house to get an explanation of some statements in his letter. Mr. James 
Sangster, the medium, and another young gentleman, besides a young lady, not a member of 
the family, were there, intending to hold a circle. Mr. Husted and the medium pressed me 
to stay, and I not very reluctantly consented to do so. After some conversation, a spirit 
wrote, through the medium's hand, directions to have a dark circle. We were required to lock 
the outer doors of two rooms, leaving only the folding doors which connected them unlocked. 
After all was made secure, we shut the folding doors and placed a chair against them, which 
I was requested to occupy so as to make sure that no one could enter the room from that 
point. I locked all the other doors myself, as well as the piano, and retained the keys in 
my own possession. This done, by request I also tied the medium so securely that I can 
vouch for it he could never have moved or released himself by any earthly means. 

"A stand with paper and pencil was placed near the medium's chaii', which, together with 
the piano and writing materials, were at one end of the parlor, whilst the rest of the party 
sat with joined hands around myself at the other end, I having taken my seat against the 
folding doors. By raps we were requested to sing, which being complied with by two of 
the party, the piano accompanied them from within the closely-locked case, continuing, in 
good time and tune, to play until the song ended. After this, light was called for and the 
medium closely examined, but he was found tied as fast, and the knots as perfect as I had 
left them. Again the light was extinguished, singing called for, and this time it was only 
accompanied by a scratching on the paper. 

" The raps soon called for the light, when a note was found, addressed to the young lady 
of our party above mentioned, written and signed by what purported to be the spirit of her 
mother. 

" This operation was repeated several times, and on each occasion, when the li^:^ht was 
produced, I carefully examined the medium, found all the fastenings intact and wholly un- 
disturbed, and a letter addressed to each member of the company, signed by spirit friends, 
and containing appropriate messages. To my letter was appended the name of my much- 
respected old friend, Stephen Dudley. The writing ran as follows : 

" ' Friend Albro, — Truth often blooms unseen in your world, and as often receives 
the scoffs and sneers of ungenerous hearts. Go on ; for beyond earth's turmoil is a brighter 
world, where labor for truth never goes unrewarded.' 

"I may add that the style and writing were so characteristic of my old friend that I 
could have recognized it without his well-known signature. 

"Before the last writing was done, a small snare drum, tambourine, and bells, which had 
been ordered by the spirits to be brought in, were carried about the room and played in time 
to the singing. Sometimes the room seemed to be lit up with a soft twilight, although there 
was no artificial light in the room, nor any means of entrance for it from without. 

" Now, what can the kneeologians and toe-snapping mountebanks, who make philosophy 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 289 

blush with the gi'ossness of their folly, do with facts like these ? Nothing — but to tell their 
admirers that the five persons who witnessed this phenomena, and who wiU. pledge their 
most sacred honors or any other required form of attestation that every word we have WTit- 
ten is true to the letter, are liars and perjured knaves. This is all they could do ; for such is 
the nature of the phenomena that tliere is no other alternative than to admit the spiritual 
hypothesis, or to impugn the credibility of the witnesses. And this no one of the five fears 
in any community where they are laiown." 

Wonderful manifestations of a similar kind to Mr. Sangster's and the Daven- 
ports' were also made through the mediumship of Mrs. Swain, of Toronto, 
Canada, who, about the time we write of, was a resident in Buffalo. 

The specialty in the case of this medium was, that the phenomena were 
produced in well-lighted rooms. Amongst other strange performances, the 
spirits succeeded in executing drawings with their own hands, on paper pre- 
viously marked and placed beneath the table, whilst the medium sat with her 
hands reposing on its surface, in the well-lighted apartment. The drawings 
produced through Mrs. Swain's mediumship were made in an incredibly short 
space of time, and though rough and inartistic, were generally significant of 
some spiritual idea, or especially interesting to certain persons present, who 
often received excellent tests through this means. One of these drawings was 
submitted to the author for inspection. 

It was boldly and not inartistically designed, and represented a death-bed 
scene, where a corpse surrounded t>y Aveeping friends lay extendea, Avhilst 
above the bed was a vivid representation of the departed spirit, rising from the 
head of the lifeless body and received in the arms of a group of attendant 
guardian angels. 

The following incidents would only receive a place in these pages on 
the most thorough conviction of their entire authenticity, and the unimpeach- 
able character of the witnesses who figiu-ed in the remarkable scenes de- 
tailed. When we state that the narratives were furnished by the late Mr. A. 
E. Maynard, of Buffalo ; that they occurred at his own residence, and in 
the presence of his respected widow, family, and immediate circle of friends, 
there is not a Spiritualist in the country who would not readily pledge their 
honor for the veracity of the statements, and admit that they were made by 
one of the noblest and most highly respected friends the cause of Spirituahsm 
has ever known or Spiritualists have loved and lamented. 

Mr. Maynard' s name would indorse any statement outside, as well as within 
the ranks of Spiritualism in BmTalo. 

As a gentleman, his veracity was held unquestioned ; whilst as a public 
officer, his character had for long years stood as a voucher for good faith, 
and fine business capacity. We have received other accounts of those 
seances of a far more wonderful character ; but as our space is limited, we 
shall confine ourselves to narrating only such facts as are vouched for over 
the signature of one who may truly be called one of the noblest works of 
God — an honest man. 

" Decemier, 1863. 
" Banner of Light : 

"Messrs. Editors, — Permit me to furnish your readers \vith a brief account of the 
developments of spirit phenomena, at a circle held at my house, on the evening of De- 
cember 31, 1S63. The medium present was Mr. Charles Reed, a person of humble pre- 
tensions, and whose mediumistic powers have only recently been brought to the attention 
of our citizens. He answers sealed letters, however securely fastened, under such stringent 
test conditions as render it impossible that there should be any deception. 

" Some ten or twelve sittings have been held at my house within the last six weeks, the 
details of which are of so extraordinary a nature that I could scarcely dare to draw upon 
the credulity of your readers by relating them in full ; I shall therefore limit myself to a 
sketch of one or two of the least wonderful of these sittings. 
19 



290 HISTORY OF MODERN 

** One of the circles was composed of seven males and four females, inclusive of memLers 
of my owm family. Seated around the table in the order directed by the spirits, we all 
joined hands, and the light was extinguished. Our medium's hands being held like the rest, 
it was impossible that any one in the room could move without instant detection. The 
moment the light was extinguished, heavy poundings on the table commenced, and the 
guitar, bells, triangle, etc., that we had placed there, were played separately and together. 

" The tin horn which we had provided at the request of the spirits, was snatched up, and 
voices came through it in quick succession. All sorts of articles were picked up, and*iDlaced 
upon the table; as, first, a chair, then an ottoman placed in it, etc. The doors were locked, 
our hands never for one instant disjoined ; yet when the light was called for and procured, 
we found those things on the table as described. Darkness being again demanded, the 
spirits addressed us through the horn, calling us each by name, conversing with us familiarly 
on points of special interest, and speaking of many friends utterly unkno^\•n to the medium, 
who had left the form and desired now to be announced. The spirit pronounced the names 
of three persons known only to our family, related many of their peculiarities, and person- 
ated their voices and manners to the life, alluding to scenes and personal specialties which 
could not be mistaken. An hour was spent in conversation in this way, during which time 
the spirit home was described as a most beautiful place, from which none ever again desired 
to return to this earth life 

" I'he spirits took a vase filled with wax flowers, a cup and saucer, relics of seventy-five 
years old, and two large china vases, from the high mantel shelf, and placed them on the 
table without noise or disturbance. They also brought many articles from an adjoining 
room, and threw them into the laps of their respective owners. They played on the piano 
when closed, raised the heavy table from the floor with all our hands on its top ; patted 
our faces, pulled our beards and hair, and laid their hands hea^^ly on our heads and shoul- 
ders. The horn was carried to the ceiling, ^and all parts of the room, the spirit voices 
singing and speaking to us from every direction. The guitar also was played in various 
parts of the apartment, whilst all our hands were tightly clasped in each other's. Spirit 
hands were showri to us through the darkness, and felt by us in various ways. After mid- 
night, a spirit voice distinctly bid us ' A Happy New Year.' 

"During the sitting a spirit suddenly blew a shrill blast on what seemed to be a drover's 
whistle. Knowing we had no such instrument in the house, we expressed surprise at the 
sound, when the spirit declared that he had taken it from the pocket of a drover in JosljTi's 
house — a drover's tavern three miles from here. By request, the spirit presented the 
whistle to Miss M.'s lips, who blew upon it two shrill tones in verification of its being a 
genuine instrument. The spirit then said, ' I am now going to return it to the drover's 
pocket,' hear it now' — shaking it, so that we could distinctly hear the rattle of the chain 
attached to it. 'Now it is gone;' then a moment afterwards, 'It is in his pocket again.' 
After this a violent and numerous clapping of hands was made all over the room, with a 
force and noise that I could scarcely imagine any human hands could produce. 

" At a subsequent sitting in the same place, the medium was taken up bodily, and whilst 
the hands of both his neighbors still held on to him, he was lifted up as high as their 
extended arms — when dragged up from their seats, and standing — could reach. 

" He was then suddenly dropped down, yet as if lifted rather than dropped, for his fall 
produced neither harm or concussion, though a fall from such a height must have broken 
his bones. Again he was taken up several times, audibly striking his head against the 
ceiling, causing him to exclaim in some fear of being hurt, ' Oh, don't !' On one occasion 
he was held against the ceiling for nearly a minute and a half, and then, as if to show the 
nature and care of the power that handled him, he was laid lengthwise on the top of the 
piano, whilst the music rack was still standing up, wholly undisturbed. 

"At this circle, besides the frequent touches of powerful solid hands, the spirits walked 
heavily about the room, and several of them danced with a sound and concussion lil<.e strong 
men, with thick boots on." 

The last seance of this nature that we can quote, is recorded by Mr. INIay- 
aard, and is as follows : 

"HERALD OF PROGRESS— BUFFALO, JANUARY 25, 1S64. 

"Friend Davis, — The most extraordinary manifestations of spirit-power of the present 
jige took place at some recent sittings of the ' Buffalo Excelsior Circle,' — so named by our 
spirit friends, — held at my residence, one of which occurring on Wednesday, January 13, 
I will herewith transcribe an accurate account of, as it took ;.Tace in the presence of a 
dozen of our most respected and reliable citizens. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 291 

" The circle was in order at seven o'clock, each one obeying the rule laid do^vTi by the 
spirits, namely, to hold each other by the hand, and not let go without direction. 

" The gas-light was turned down, and the spirits bid us welcome in an audible voice, and 
then played on the piano which was placed close up against and facing the Vi'all, accompa- 
nied by several small instruments. The controlling spirit — who calls himself Samson^ 
addressed the chairman, who, as is usual, introduced to him all who had not met witli us 
before. Samson rejjeated after hun the name of each, saymg cordially some words of wel- 
come and greetmg. 

"The chairman reminded Samson of his promise to strike the Park bell in front of the 
Sherman House ui Chicago last evening, Tuesday, Januaiy 12, at eleven o'clock. To this 
Samson i^eplied, 'Yes, sir, I struck it at the very minute I said I would.' This has been 
verified by letters received from several pecsons of respectability, who heard it, and who 
are willing to bear testimony that they did so. 

" The chairman then reminded him that lie [Samson] had promised to strike the bell of 
the Washington Baptist Church in this city, on that evening at half-past nine o'clock. To 
this reminder Sainson also assented, and declared that he would do it ; also, that he would 
then keep his engagement to change water into wine, and 'would do it now.' The gas 
being re-lighted, a tumbler of clear, pure water was drawn from the filter, placed on the 
table, the light turned down, and all hands instantly joined. In less than two minutes the 
spirit said, 'Give your light.' The light being procured, the tumbler on the table was 
standing exactly in the same place, but instead of the water, it contained, we found, a red 
liquid resembling in taste Malaga, or the wines generally used in the sacrament. The wine 
is presei-ved, and open to the inspection of the curious. Many very powerful manifestations 
were given and interesting conversations held on the conditions of spirit life." [As these 
do not vary from the general representations made by spirits concerning their life in the 
spheres, we omit them. — Author.] 

"The hour for sounding the bell having arrived, Samson manifested considerable impa- 
tience at the delay of the worthy sexton of the church, who had promised to join tlie circle. 
He declared he must have him there for the sake of his peculiar influence, and in answer 
to a query whether he could not hasten his coming, said he could, and was even then willing 
him on his way. He desired us to keep quiet, and presently said, 'He has come,' when 
instantly the door-bell rang, and the sexton was admitted to the circle. 

" He said he had carefully shut up the church, and brought the keys with him, so that 
it was impossible that any one could have access in any way to t'ne church, much less to the 
bells, and yet in less than tliree minutes after his arrival, we all distinctly heard, in that 
close room, over five hundred yards from the church, a loud, clear peal on the bells. Several 
persons in the streets heard the peal likewise, and the subject has excited much comment 
and curious inquiry. The sexton expresses his willingness to testify to the fact, and show 
how impossible it was for any human being to have access to the belfry whilst it was care- 
fully locked and he sat with the keys of that and the church in our circle-room. 

"At a later sitting, several sceptical gentlemen were present, one of whom Samson 
recognized, giving him several very satisfactoiy tests; amongst the number, he reminded 
liim that he — Mr. S., a lawyer — ^ tried a suit for him, and adding, 'Don't you remember 
we beat him? ' Mr. S. replied by asking the sjoirit his name. The spirit reminded him of 
the suit and the name of the opposing party, adding, ' That man, Mr. A., was so mean that 
we don't speak to him here.' Mr. S. inquired how long he had been dead. The spirit 
replied, ' About three months; ' a statement which was at the time unknown to Mr. S., 
though subsequent inquiry verified it. The spirit added to this many other tests of identity 
concerning spirit friends of Mr. S. and others present. At this circle also, and for the third 
time, water was changed into wine under most stringent test conditions. A bird and cage, 
and many other articles, were moved about, and most powerful manifestations were made 
whilst every hand in the room was closely joined. 

" Saturday evening, yanttary 23, 1864. 

*' At the close of this circle, the folIo\\ang incident occurred. Young Broughton is a 
member of our circle. He had on this occasion brought liis father, who up to that night 
was a sceptic. Both were soldiers, enlisted in the same company. The spirit Samson had 
singled out the old gentleman, being a sceptic, for a great variety of slaps and poundings, 
which rather nettled him. At last he asked if he would ' like a little fun,' to which he received 
a good-humored assent, when he immediately called for t'ne light. Nothing had transpired 
in tlie interim, nor had we for one moment disjoined our hands, except as usual, one of us 
had broken the circle to re-liglit the gas. The light showed the circle complete, and every- 
thing mitouched, save that our old military friend was sitting minus his coat. Looking 
first at his right arm and then at his left, covered only with shirt sleeves, he became utterly 



292 HISTORY OF MODERJSr 

confounded, wliile his look of amazement, and his emphatic protestations that he had nevei 
loosed his hands from his neighbor's for one instant, 'nor had any one, or anything even 
touched him' — provol<;ed roars of laughter not unmixed with astonishment on the part of 
the whole circle. There was the coat, however, quite unharmed, and folded up outside, 
and at a distance from the circle. All present insisted that as the spirits had disrobed tlie 
soldier, they should be polite enough to put his coat on again. This they promised to do, 
when the light was again extinguished. After sitting a few minutes, waiting in silence for tlie 
promised demonstration, Mr. Broughton exultingly remarked, that ' they could not fool him 
this time,' for all was as still and quiet as death. Instantly the signal was given for the 
light, when the coat was found replaced on the watchful soldier's form without his havmg 

the least perception that he had even been touched 

" Fraternally yours, 

"A. E. Maynard." 

Our notice of the extraordinary character of spiritual manifestations in 
Buffalo is intended to prepare the reader for yet more forcible and striking 
phenomena throughout the Western country. 

It is now an acknowledged fact that the demonstrations of spirit-power 
not only correspond with the peculiar temperament and idiosyncracies of the 
media, but in some respects, appear to bear a relation to the leading features of 
the climate, country, and people, where they occur. Thus the manifestations 
in New York, Boston, and the Eastern States, whilst partaking of all the mar- 
vellous character of physical mediumship, have been strongly marked with 
the intellectual tendencies of the inhabitants. Philadelphia, the beautiful 
Quaker City, has long been noted for the stable character, and religious tend- 
ency of its Spiritualism. Baltimore and Washington, being points of attrac- 
tion for visitors, have partaken of the cosmopolitan characteristics of New 
York, while the Spiritualism of Vermont and NeAV Hampshire, like all moun- 
tain regions, has been singularly distinguished for the number and lucidity of 
■ its seers and prophetic media. To the careful observer it will be apparent, 
that, whilst every town, village, and hamlet has furnished its quota of in- 
spired laborers, in a number and value far beyond the pen of the historian 
to record, the general features of the movement point with marked distinct- 
ness to the intluence of special climatic, as well as intellectual and moral 
conditions. Thus it will be no matter of surprise to find the manifestations 
of spirit-power in the West, transcending all other localities for force and 
abundance. Amongst a people untrammelled by the conventionalities of 
"fashionable society," which too often crowd back the natural impulses of the 
heart and brain, into polished artifice, spiritual experiments could be con- 
ducted with every possible chance of success. 

In a land where the large,'the wild, and the wonderful in nature predis- 
pose the mind to broad and lofty aspirations ; where the free air sweeps over 
a hundred miles of open prairie at once, shouts its anthems of storm and 
tempest from the towers of God's cathedral rocks, lashes into the fury of 
ocean billows, the waves of inland seas, murmurs through the depths of old 
primeval forests, whose dim solitudes have never echoed to the axe of the 
woodman, or sweeps along a thousand miles of giant rivers, — Spiritualism 
becomes manifest with a force and freedom unknovv'n to investigators under 
less favorable circumstances. As soon as the rumor of the Rochester knock- 
ings reached the Western States, individual experiences began to assume 
the shape of corresponding phenomena. Families remembered the inex- 
plicable sights and sounds which had occurred amongst themselves ; noted 
what was still transpiring, and came to the conclusion that one explanation 
would cover the whole ground. In fact, the period foretold by the prophet 
Joel, seemed actually at hand; and thousands, whose supra-mundane ex- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 293 

periences long ante-dated the Hydesville disturbances, were witnesses of the 
pouring forth of the spirit "upon all flesh." Very early in their itinerating 
labors, the Misses Fox visited the most important cities of the West, and 
there they found ground already prepared for the spiritual harvest. 

As Ohio has been one of the most favored of the Western States in this 
i-^spect, we shall call attention to some of its Spiritualism in the first instance. 
In Columbus, the capital of Ohio, several distinguished citizens had attended 
the Rochester investigations in their incipiency, and having assured them- 
selves there v/as something occult and supra-mundane in the movement, they 
returned to their homes and instituted circles, which were very productive of 
spiritual fruits. A number of mediums were soon developed, amongst whom 
were Messrs. Walcutt and Rogers, the spirit artists so often referred to. 
Besides these, Columbus v/as rich in seeing, speaking, and writing mediums, 
whilst many warm-hearted believers gave freely of their means and hospital- 
ity to strengthen the hands of the laborers for the cause. Amongst those 
most active in promoting Sabbath meetings for lecturers, and procuring the 
services of distinguished media for public manifestations, none rendered 
nobler service than Mr. Savage, a prominent and highly respected citizen, of 
the place, whose hospitable roof and unstinted liberality were lavishly de- 
voted to the service of Spiritualism. 

Amongst the earliest opponents of the cause in Columbus, was a physi- 
cian whose skill and influence in the community rendered him a formidable 
antagonist to the self-sacrificing efforts of his once-valued friend, Mr. Savage, 
from whom the latter' s adlierence to Spiritualism had considerably estranged 
him. 

Mr. Savage had good-humoredly prophesied that his medical friend would 
some day have cause to rue his opposition to the advance of truth, and 
warned him to beware how he unadvisedly attempted to "quench the spirit." 

On a certain occasion the learned physician was passing down the j)rincipal 
street of the city, when, on arriving opposite the jewelry store of Mr: Savage, 
he experienced, to his horror, an unaccountable impulse to mount the stump 
of a tree which had been cut down in the walk he was traversing, and then 
and there, for several minutes, to crow in the most graphic imitation of a 
barn-door Jowl. The awkward portions of this incomprehensible, psychologi- 
cal experience were, first, that the grave physician was at that moment car- 
rying in his hand a couple of fine fowls ready for the spit, on his way home ; 
secondl)^, that the hour when he was compelled to make this remarkable ex- 
hibition was high noon ; and thirdly, that the scene of the display was at once 
the most public in the city, and just that portion of it which faced the door of 
his quondam friend, Mr. Savage. But the mortification of this combination of 

untoward circumstances did not end there. Dr. was not free from the 

influence of the "defunct roosters" [as the scoffers significantly called the 
phenomenon] for several weeks, but would involuntarily jump up at any time, 
or in any place, in public or in private, and mounting any convenient elevation 
that happened to be at hand, incontinently crow until the fit wore itself out. 

The old explanation in this singular case was exchanged from "witchcraft" 
to the more scientific modern phrase of "psychology," which power, it was 
presumed, " those dreadful Spiritualists" had brought to bear on the unfortu- 
nate gentleman " in revenge for his opposition to their belief" Had the 
manifestations been of a less ludicrous character, there is no doubt but that 
this opinion would have provoked some strong measures against the Spiritual- 
ists, who, though entirely giiiltless, were still generally believed to have been 
somehow the promoters of the mischief. 



294 HISTORY OF MODERN 

The next phase, and the one which ultimately conducted the medical vic- 
tim into the adytum of Spiritualism, was an irresistible tendency to pour forth 
torrents of language in an unknown tongue. To this succeeded several other 
equally awkward evidences of an uncontrollable power, leading him onward 
until the worthy physician set himself seriously to work to investigate the 
nature of human psychology ; passing on to the realm of the spiritual, by 
inevitable sequence, he soon found himself treading the same paths with his 
former antagonists, now become his fellow-pilgrims to the same great temple 
of mental science, the entrance to which lie discovered to be the spirit 
circle ; and thus it was that Dr. found the afflatus, so troublesome and lu- 
dicrous when opposed to his stubborn will, a source of blessing and instruction 
Avhen coming normally under the control of his reason ; in short, he became 
an excellent medium, and found his newly-acquired spiritual insight of incal- 
culable benefit to him in his medical practice. Another member of the Col- 
umbus circles was also a physician and good clairvoyant, and this gentleman 
was particularly distinguished in his practice for discovering, by interior sight, 
how faithfully his patients had adhered to his prescriptions in his absence, in 
fact, his services were in request even from those most violently opposed to his 
belief, on account of the remarkable skill with which he diagnosed disease, 
and the occult power which he manifested in its treatment. 

On one occasion, the author, being engaged to lecture in Columbus, Ohio, 
and hospitably entertained by Mr. Savage and his amiable lady, met, on the 
Saturday evening of her arrival, a large party of spiritualistic friends who had 
kindly assembled to welcome her. It was stated that the bells of the various 
churches had been in active operation during the whole past week, summon- 
ing the Christian part of the community to "a union prayer meeting," an effi- 
cacious method, as it was deemed, of praying Spiritualism out of existence. 
Some of the petitions offered up on these occasions were to the effect that the 
Lord would be pleased to take the Devil out of their midst ; and by way of 
informing the Supreme Being of the affairs of this nether world, the petition- 
ers distinctly stated that the said "Devil" would appear in the likeness of 
Emma Hardinge, the spirit medium, and make a descent upon the doomed city 
of Columbus at Armory Hall, the next Sabbath, at eleven o'clock, a. m. 
Much merriment was excited among Mr. Savage's friends by tlie discus- 
sion of these truly Christian proceedings, when Dr. ■ was suddenly en- 
tranced by an influence which purported to be one of a band of " elementaiy 
spirits," whose special function in the realm of nature associated him with the 
element of fire; in fact, he announced himself as a "spirit of the fire." The 
probable existence and communion with earth of other than human spirits, 
and especially of such as had peculiar affinity with different elements in the 
universe, had always been a subject of divided opinion in these circles, where 

the affirmative had been stoutly maintained by Dr. , who referred to 

numbers of tests of supra-mundane intelligence afforded by these spirits in 
proof of their existence. All the Doctor's spiritual friends admitted the intel- 
ligence, and the evidences of spirit control in his mediumship, but most of 
them believed that its sources were limited to the plane of a human-soul 
world. On the night in question, " a spirit of the fire," as the communicating 

intelligence claimed to be, entranced both Dr. and Emma Hardinge, 

and informed the assembly that he was destined that night to be unusually ac- 
tive in his department, and intended to give the world a strong proof that the 
next day's spiritual meetings were under the guardianship of powerful protect- 
ing spirits. 

Before the party separated, a cry of fire disturbed the quiet of the night, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 295 

and a fine block of buildings adjacent to the one occupied by Mr. Savage, 
was found to be on fire. The flames originated in an hotel which extended 
over nearly all the stores in the block, which, despite the most energetic exer- 
tions, during that fatal night, was burned to the ground. One building alone 
remained unscathed, and this was the store and superstructiu'e at one end, which 
seemed by a miracle to have been preserved intact, whilst the immense mass 
connected with it was irretrievably swept into ruins by the fierce flames. 

The solitary building thus strangely preserved was Armory Hall, the place 
engaged for the spiritual lectures, and the front of which was covered with 
posters announcing the amval of the author, who, the next day, held morning 
and evening services within its uninjured walls, to the assembled masses who 
crowded thither to hear the glad tidings of the great modern spiritual out- 
pouring. 

By way of accounting for the extraordinary preservation of Armory Hall 
and the success of the Spiritualists' meetings, whilst the rest of the city was 
thrown into confusion by the past night's terrible conflagration, the "Chi-istian 
Union" p)raying societies suggested that, " the Devil always takes care of his 
own." 

Some of the more profane amongst the proscribed Spiritualists added that 
it was a pity that the God of the Christian petitioners had not been equally 
watchful over the property of his devout flock. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED — CLEVELAND. 

" \Vhat voice shall bid the progress stay 
Of truth's victorious car? 
What arm arrest the growing day. 

Or hide the polar star ? 
What reckless man, though stout and strong. 
Can plant again the ancient wrong, 
Oppression's guilty night prolong. 
Or God's bright sunlight bar? " 

Psalms of Life. 

The Fox Family at Cleveland — Mr. Joel Tiffany and the Opposition — 
"The Cleveland Plaindealer " — Philosophy through the Rappings — 
Editorial Opinions — Aeby Warner — Spiritualism on Trial — The Ver- 
dict — President Lincoln and the Spirits — Mrs. Brown and the "Agita- 
tor" — Female Executive in Cleveland — Wonderful Manifestations 
through Mr. William Hume. 

No section of the States has been favored with a more abundant outpour- 
ing of the spirit than that called "the Western Reserve," including the city 
of Cleveland. Quite early in the spiritual movement, the Misses Fox visited 
Cleveland, and in connection with Mr. Joel Tiffany, their lecturer, created an 
irrepressible interest in that Vv-hole section of country. Encountering the 
redoubtable Chauncy Burr, Mr. Tiffany was induced to enter into several 
public discussions with him, which, without greatly affecting the truth or false- 
hood of Spiritualism, stimulated inquiry to such a pitch of intensity that the 
whole of the Western Reserve seemed, by natural attraction, to have resolved 
itself into circles for the development of phenomena. Tlie editor of the 



296 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

Cleaveland Plamdealer, a talented and candid man, himself witnessed the 
manifestations through the Fox family, and besides publishing tJie result of 
his own investigations and a mass of evidence of a highly suggestive charac- 
ter furnished by the numerous visitors who attended the Misses Fox's seances, 
this liberal editor set a noble example to his literary contemporaries by 0])en- 
ing his columns to both sides of the question, and thus permitting the whole 
' truth to have a chance of reaching the community. 

It would be mere reiteration of preceding chapters to quote largely from 
this source, but the following extracts will be found of interest ; first, because 
they give a graphic description of the progress of the movement despite the 
usual virulent efforts that were made for its suppression ; and next, because 
the first communication cited, aftbrds an interesting specimen of phiIoso[)hy 
spelled out through the independent though slow method of the rappings. 

"DOINGS AT THE DUNHAM HOUSE — THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUALISM, AS 
RAPPED OUT BY DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. — CLEVELAND PLAINDEALER — 1S51. 

" So engrossed are we in worldly affairs, that we have but little time to investigate spirit- 
ual matters, although opportunities present themselves twice a day at the Dunham House, 
There are, however, a few gentlemen of leisure who are taking up this matter systemati- 
cally, and looking into its mysteries most earnestly. Some dozen of the most intellectual 
minds in the city have formed a league to jointly and candidly investigate this phenomenon, 
and after a few preliminary sittings have reported favorable progress. 

" We have been kindly invited by this circle to attend whenever our convenience would 
allow, knowing that we liacl the moral courage to publish what we saw and heard, witliout 
stopping to inquire whether anything similar had been published for fifty years before, or 
without consulting the masculine grannies of the day whether it met their approval or not. 
Last evening we looked in at one of the circles, and found the company had progressed so 
far as to dispense with the tedious tests which are usually required to prove the identity of 
the communicating intelligence, and were then, as they had reason to believe, actually taking 
lessons in philosophy ' from spiritual teachers. After a great variety of preliminary mani- 
festations had been given, an unusually loud knocking signalized what the sitters were 
accustomed to believe to be the approach of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. For a long time 
this intelligence communicated, sometimes by the alphabet, and occasionally by spoken 
question and answer. The sum of what was thus given, we, by aid of the circle, have 
reported as follows : 

" ' Spirit is the great positive element of being ; matter the great negative. There is an 
elemental difference between matter and spirit. Electricity and magnetism are intimately 
connected with matter, and belong to it. There is a dividing link between matter and 
mind, compounded of electricity and magnetism, yet finer than either, called vitality, or life. 
There are various degrees of refinement in magnetism : chemical affinities, cohesion, and 
gravitation, are properties of electricity and magnetism. Repulsion is caused by stronger 
attraction. The ascension of a balloon from earth is an illustration of this principle. 

" ' Everything in the universe takes its place by virtue of elemental aflinities, and can 
occupy no other place without changing the relation of itself and every other atom in ex- 
istence. The earth and every other body in space moves in its orbit by the united action 
of every other body, the combining influence of all and each, separately and conjointly, 
acting upon each other. Thoiight is mental motion, and is converged from one mind to 
another by an intermediate medium, which is put into action by the mind. This medium 
lies between nervous fluid and spirit, and exists in various degrees of refineihent in the ele- 
ment of vitality, or life.' 

"Much further information of a similar kind was given, which we failed to note. 

After the circle drew up close to the table for phenoinena, various sounds were 

produced in different parts of the room, as raps, sawing, driving nails, etc 

More is promised anon." 

The editor's own views on the subject of Spiritualism are expressed in the 
following paragraph, which, in view of the treatment Spiritualism has so 
generally received at the hands of the press, we earnestly commend to the 
attention of every candid reader. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 297 

"A CHANGE IS GOING ON. — CLEVELAND PLAINDEALER — 1S51. 

" Notwithstanding the burlesques of the Burrs, the expose of the Buffalo Faculty (?) and 
other learned dunces, besides the scoffs of the prejudiced and ignorant against the 'rappings,' 
the cause expressed in that word is gaming ground on every side. One month ago, there 
were not fifty believers in the city ; now there are hundreds, including some of its best 
minds. Hundi-eds more are waitmg for that ocular evidence which alone can or ought to 
convince the world of claims so miprecedented and seemmgly miraculous as the work of 
spirits. 

" But the most marked change is going on among the press. Exchanges that a few 
montlis ago were filled with ridicule of this subject, are now willing, nay, anxious to receive 
and publish facts concerning it. This is as it shoidd be. Why should an editor, a single 
individual, who, because he is perched on a literary tripod, undertake to judge of all new 
doctrines or forms of science that may arise, and attempt to dictate what shall go to his 
readers or what shall not ? Who has appointed him guardian of all truth, and commis- 
sioned him to pronounce as 'humbug' that which he may neither have had leisure nor op- 
portunity to investigate; or, havmg examined, may not have the brains to comprehend? 
Publish the facts and the opmions of sensible men thereon, and let the world judge for itself. 
That is our motto." 

The following paragraph, piibHshed in the same paper as the above, needs 
no apology for its presentation to the reader as an item of rare interest : 

"JENNY LIND AND THE SPIRITS. 

" It is well known that Catherine Fox, a child of some dozen summers, is at present and 
has been for some time stopping in the family of Horace Greeley, in New York. When 
Jenny Lind heard of the remarkable manifestations heard in the presence of Katy, as she is 
called, she went to Mr. Greeley's to see her. It is said that the sweet songstress had a 
very interesting interview with what she believed to be the spirits of departed friends, and 
when she left, she kissed little Katy, saying, ' If it were possible for you to make these 
sounds, I know it is impossible for you to answer the questions I have asked this evening.' 
Jenny had been conversing in her native tongue, and she was so impressed with the start- 
ling nature of the intelligence she had received, that she bade Katy good-by with eyes 
suffused with tears." 

During the visits of the Misses Fox to Cleveland, two reverend gentlemen, 
Messrs. Faton and Sheldon, undertook once more the ungracious task of 
"explodkjg" the manifestations. Mr. Eaton's method was to visit the 
mediums with falsehood in his heart and on his lips. He called for imagin- 
ary spirits, and prompted questions to which false answers or silence was the 
only alternative. Mr. Eaton realized the truth of the proverb that '• We 
always meet with that we set out to search for, as we cast our own shadow 
around us." Mr. Eaton set out to seek for falsehood, used falsehood to 
arrive at his results, was met by the falsehoods he sought, and hence went 
forth to denounce the whole thing as a "humbug." 

]\Ir. Sheldon, having come to Mr. Eaton's conclusions, summoned an au- 
dience to listen to a discourse of several hours in length, when, after having 
exliausted the patience of the principal portion of his auditory, he hurriedly 
strove to capture the attention of the departing remnant by a rehash of thf^ 
old "loose joint" theory of the Buffalo doctors. With no better antagonists 
than Burr, Eaton, and Sheldon, it is no wonder that Spiritualism should make 
unimpeded progress through the homes of "the Forest City"; that the seances 
of the Fox family should have been attended by throngs of the most intelli- 
gent and prominent of its citizens, and that Avhen they left, numbers of highly 
endowed mediums should become sufficiently developied to take their place. 
Amongst these, one of the most remarkable was Abby Warner, a poor orphan 
girl dependent on public charity for support, and an object of pity from a 



298 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

concatenation of severe physical ailments which rendered her equally helples? 
and unsightly. And yet it was through the instrumentality of this afflicted 
and humble agent that the cause of Spiritualism was to receive an irresistible 
impulse in Ohio, for Abby Warner not only became a most wonderful spirit 
medium, but, through no volition of her own, brought the phenomena before 
the world in a manner which human foresight, however keen, could hardly 
have achieved. 

The first marked interest that was excited by the mediumship of this young 
girl, arose whilst she resided in the house of a good widow, Mrs. Kellog by 
name, at Massillon. Mrs. Kellog' s compassionate heart had been touched 
by sympathy for the poor orphan's afflicted condition, and, out of simple pity, 
she had invited her to come to her house and assist her in her domestic 
duties. 

Here, for the first time, it was discovered by Mrs. Kellog, who was herself 
niediumistic, that "the raps" could be readily produced in the presence and 
about the person of Abby. This discovery greatly interested her patroness, 
who induced her to sit for circles, at which powerful physical manifestations 
and most excellent tests of spirit identity were freely given. Abby Warner 
had lived in such conditions of neglect and ignorance that at the time of this 
development, though eighteen years of age, she could only read printed char- 
acters imperfectly, but neither write herself nor read Avriting ; and yet, in a 
state of deep trance, this uneducated girl would write correctly with both 
hands, at the same time, on difi'erent subjects, for different spirits, whilst a 
third would manifest through the rappings, and spell out another and totally 
different communication simultaneously with the other two. Dr. Abel Under- 
bill, .who wrote and published the history of Abby Warner, states upon his 
own as well as the authority of scores of credible witnesses, whose testimony 
is rendered upon oath, that Abby Warner often gave at her circles three sep- 
arate communications at once, one with her right, and another with her left 
hand, and a third through the rappings ; that these were well written and cor- 
rectly phrased, and contained the most indubitable tests of the communica- 
ting spirits' several- identities. The author is furnished with several affidavits 
to this effect, but their publication would but be a reiteration of testimony 
already given in Dr. Underbill's history of the medium. We must add, how- 
ever, that the answers to questions obtained in this way were frequently men- 
tal and given whilst the medium was in a deep trance, hence her case is one 
of the most singular and exceptional of psychologic as well as mediumistic 
instances on record. 

Abby Warner was also an excellent seeing and trance medium, and as 
crowds of eager inquirers availed themselves of her wonderful powers, Mrs. 
Kellog's residence was often thronged with visitors curious to investigate this 
marvellous phenomenon. When the reports of these seances began to be 
widely circulated. Dr. Ackley, a medical practitioner of Cleveland, who had 
been employed by the poor-house authorities to perform a surgical operation 
on the suffering girl Abby, being moved with the pious design of saving the 
world from the awful ravages which Spiritualism was now making in it, visited 
Mrs. Kellog's house to procure evidence which would enable him to com- 
mence his work of salvation by proving the now-celebrated Abby Warner to 
be an impostor. Finding this task somewhat harder than he had anticipated, 
he wisely confined himself to an explanation of the mode in which the obnoxious 
raps were produced. For this purpose he addressed a letter to the Cleveland 
papers, in which he boldly asserted that the whole of the girl's manifestations 
were the result of " trickery," and all depended on the action, not even of 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 299 

ankle and toe joints, but of "the respiratory muscles of the chest," which pro- 
cess he described as being performed in such an ingenious and masterly way 
that his own admissions showed the ignorant medium to be a better practical 
surgeon than the redoubtable doctor himself And because this learned pro- 
fessor declared that, after he had trained them, several of his students could 
rap with their ankles, respiratory muscles, etc., as well as Abby, he undertook 
to pronounce Spiritualism, from Rochester to California, "a profound hum- 
bug;" solemnly announced that it was "exploded" forthwith; and actually 
expected somebody else besides himself to credit his assertions. After the 
fubiiination of this medical bull, which doubtless answered the purpose of a 
very good advertisement for the cause. Spiritualism proceeded with more 
force and abundance in Cleveland and its vicinity than ever, but the circum- 
stances that connected its progress so publicly v/ith the name of Abby War- 
ner were as follows : Dr. Underbill being in Massillon, and having taken 
Abby Warner into his family for medical treatment, accompanied her, with his 
wife and a few friends to St. Timothy's Church, on Christmas eve, 1851. 
They went there, as they alleged, chiefly for the purpose of seeing the deco- 
rations, which, as was usual at that period, were tastefully arranged thi'ough- 
out the church. 

Although the rappings accompanied Abby wherever she went, there was 
no reason to anticipate any of sufficient force to disturb the congregation ;' 
hence, her friends were not a little surprised to hear them produced on this 
occasion with such unusual power and number that the attention of the 
whole assembly was attracted by them, and fixed upon the place where 
Abby and her party were seated. The church was unusually quiet at the 
time, and the presence of the well-known and obnoxious "spirit rapper" no 
doubt fastened observation on the sounds, which they might otherwise have 
escaped. When, however, they were made in full volume, distinctly, and in 
excellent time to the singing, there seemed to be no further room to doubt 
their source. 

The officiating minister desired [addressing no one in particular] that 
" those knockings might cease ;" to which the said knockings responded by 
a single rap of remarkable force and vibratory power, a signal interpreted by 
the initiated in spirit telegraphy to mean a decided negative to the clergy- 
man's request ; nor did they cease, but rather increased in number and force, 
until the close of the service and the retirement of Abby and her party. 
After this, the indignation of the congregation vented itself in sundry intem- 
perate letters, in v\4iich the nature and impiety of the outrage put upon a 
Christian community, and the disturbance created in their worship, was 
fiercely insisted upon, in the Massillon papers. The result of this storm 
was the citation of Abby Warner, the " spirit rapper," before a public tribunal, 
to answer to the charge of having wilfully and in malice prepense, disturbed 
a Christian assembly m the solemn act of public worship. 

The trial, as recorded in the columns of the Cleveland Plaindealer, is a 
curious specunen of ignorance, superstition, and malice. The full details are 
scarcely of sufficient interest to warrant their insertion here, we shall there- 
fore only quote a few extracts from the report, as follows : 

"THE TRIAL OF ABBY WARNER. 

\^^ Reported for the Cleveland PlaindealerS^ 

" A large congregation, it seems, had met at the Episcopal Church, Massillon, on Christ- 
mas eve. Soon after the services had commenced, a knocking was heard, which vi^as con 
tinued at intervals during the evening, notwithstanding that the minister publicly desired 



300 HISTORY OF MODERN 

that it might cease. After this, the raps again commenced, so loudly that they could be 
heard distinctly in every part of the ch-..''ch during the whole sermon. In order to ascer- 
tain the locality of the sounds, some ge /tlemen went into the basement of the church, and 
declared that the raps proceeded from that part of the building above where Abby Warner, 
the well-known 'rapping medium,' was seated. This, and the fact that Dr. Underhill, 
under whose charge Abby is now residing, as well as other avowed believers in spiritual 
manifestations, was in the church, also the rumor that the spirit had directed Abby to go 
there for the pm-pose of producing manifestations, induced those opposed to the modern 
science of pneumatology, to ascribe the raps to the said Abby, as an offence worthy of con- 
dign punishment. 

"The Spiritualists, it appears, not only claimed that the sounds were made by invisible 
intelligences, independent of their volition ; but, through their peculiar mode of interpreting 
spirit telegraphy, they inferred that they were decidedly opposed to the doctrines of the 
preacher. This matter has caused much excitement. In the last number of the town paper, 
several distinguished members of the Episcopal Church stated their opinion, that it v/as a 
scheme of Dr. Underhill' s and his associates to disturb and insult their religious exercises, 
and they called upon all good citizens to beware of these ' contaminators of public mor- 
als,' and treat them ' with the contempt they so justly merited.' Moreovei", on the strength 
of the statute regarding disturbance of religious meetings. Dr. Reed, M.D., made his affi- 
davit that he did verily believe that one Abby Warner had interrupted the services at St. 
Timothy's Church on Christmas eve last, whereupon, a warrant was issued for the arrest of 
Abby, who was accordingly brought before R. H. Folger, Esq., for examination. 
As this is the first modern instance in which ' the spirits ' have been arraigned in a 
court of justice, a particular report of the trial will doubtless be interesting to the public 
at large. 

" The trial commenced on Saturday, December 27, before R. H. Folger, Justice of 
Peace. The office was so crowded that the constable had great difficulty in preserving the 
due order and decorum of the court. A. C. Wales appeared for the State, and Messrs. 

Keith, Underhill, and Pease, for the defendant The defendant pleaded 

not guilty, and her counsel admitted the fact that strange sounds had been heard in St. 
Timothy's Church at the time complained of, and in her presence, but they alleged that these 
were not produced by any agency of hers, or under any control of her own. 

■' The examination of witnesses tended to elicit no facts beyond those already referred to, 
namely, the production of knocks, coming sometimes singly, sometimes in twos and threes, 
or even in a shower, emphasizing certain passages, beating time to the singing, and occasion- 
ally sounding as if two or three persons struck together, and always loud and distinct ; but 
not a single witness could be found, who could swear that they perceived the slightest move- 
ment in the accused party ; on the contrary, when closely cross-examined, those who professed 
to have scrutinized the action of the 'spirit rapper' narrowly were compelled to admit 
that they could not detect the least perceptible motion, even of her dress, at the times when 
the knocks were most numerous and emphatic. 

"Two ladies who sat in the same slip with her were carefully examined, and though 
entirely unfavorable to her belief, acknowledged that she never moved when the knocks 
were at the loudest, and, whether she stood up or sat down, they did not even suspect that 
she made the sounds ; indeed, they proceeded, as they seemed to think, from points quite dis- 
tant from her. Others testified that they came from the back, side, ground, or at any rate 
somewhere near her pew, but in what particular locality, all seemed strangely disagreed. 

" The trial, which continued during three days, was removed, on account of the immense 
throng of spectators, to Welker's Hall ; and, after along and patient investigation, ended 
in the discharge of the accused. Mr. Folger, after a very elaborate summing up, closed in 
these words: 'It is to be regretted that the true source of this disturbance cannot be 
ascertained, and the offender punished. A church has been disturbed in its devotions to 
an extent which arrested the attention, not only of the rector, but of every one present. 
After three days of patient investigation, the guilty party is undiscovered, and, thus far, the 
investigation has proved fruitless, for which the court can only express its sincere regret. 
Being unable, in the light of the proof, to find the defendant guilty, she is discharged.' " 

And thus ended a trial upon wh ch the law, with all its acumen, was 
unable to throw any light ; a case upon which the church, with all its as- 
sumed divine illumination, only cast darkness visible ; yet which the plain 
common sense of millions of less highly gifted authorities has discovered to 
be distinct emanations from the fountain of all lisrht, — foretrleams from the 
realms of mimortality. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 30 1 

Immediately after the decision above referred to, Dr. Underbill issued a 
circular to the effect that an investigation would be conducted by a carefully 
selected committee of persons, chiefly sceptical, as to the claims of Spiritual- 
ism, in which Abby 'Warner should sit under stringent test conditions, to prove 
the truth of a spiritual origin for the raps, trance writings, speaking mes- 
sages, descriptions of spirits, ringing of bells, playing of musical instniments, 
movement of heavy ponderable bodies, produced through her, as claimed, 
by spiritual agency, and without any act or volition of her own. 

The committee consisted all of well-known and prominent persons in 
Massillon, and were INIessrs. F. M. Keith, C. K. Skinner, R. Partridge, C. 
D. Smith, and A. Pease. In connection with this committee, one of 
ladies only was appointed to examine the medium's clothing before commen- 
cing her seances. 

Four sessions were held, at which all the manifestations enumerated above, 
besides many personal tests of a striking character, were rendered, during which 
the hands of the young girl were frequently held, her shoes taken off, and her 
position changed in various ways to suit the requirements of her judges. It 
would but be a repetition of already over-familiar phenomena, were we to 
quote the verbose and elaborate testimonial which the judges freely rendered 
to the truth and genuine character of Abby Warner's me^iumship at the con- 
clusion of their investigations. Enough that they summed up the various 
items of manifestations displa3-ed, minutely describing many of them, by declar- 
ing their conviction that "Abby Warner had neither art nor part in their pro- 
duction;" that they were "wonderful, wholly unaccountable, and genuine evi- 
dences of an occult and intelligent force outside the medium ; " and though 
they were not all prepared to attribute what they had mtnessed to the action 
of spirits, they were fully agreed as to Abb}'^s innocence "of any share in 
their performance." This report was signed by the whole committee, numer- 
ously witnessed, and carefully attested. 

The impetus given to Spiritualism by this remarkable trial and the report 
which followed it, is almost inconceivable. Circles were organized in every 
family. Mediumistic gifts of extraordinarj'- character were abundant, and the 
purpose, if purpose there was on the part of the spiritual performers, of Abby 
Warner's visit to the church of St. Timothy, was accomplished in planting 
Spiritualism in almost every household on the Western Reserve. 

Immediately after the election of the late lamented President Lincoln, an 
article appeared in the Cleveland Plaindcaler which the timid feared, and the 
antagonistic hoped, would greatly prejudice the cause of the popular Republi- 
can leader, by associating his name ■\^dth Spiritualism. 

In the expectation that he would give a public denial to what some inter- 
ested parties were pleased to consider " a most injurious statement," the arti- 
cle in question was submitted to the President, who quietly glanced over it, 
and in answer to the earnest request that he would furnish a contradiction to 
the papers, replied : " The only falsehood in the statement is that the half of 
it has not been told. This article does not begin to tell the wonderful things 
I have witnessed." The anti-spiritual friends of President Lincoln were 
henceforth silent on such subjects ; but rumor was less obliging and constantly 
circulated reports of the seances in which the noble and greatly harassed mar- 
tyr communed with the spirits of ^vise and perfected men, through whose pres- 
cient power and far-seeing judgment, counsels were poured into his ear, 
which bore mighty and fateful fruit. A gentleman lately resident in Washing- 
ton and only known by his most intimate friends as a strong physical medium, 
became familiarly acquainted with the contents of man}'- an eventful state papei 



302 HISTORY OF MODERN 

before it ever saw official light — aye, even whilst it was being issued from the spit ■ 
itual press over the telegraphic wires which run between the mortal and im- 
mortal worlds. Doubtless the human " wire-pullers," who surround the seats ol 
office and plant their batteries of influence so as to make the nation's welfare 
bear primarily on their own, imagine they have exerted an immense power in 
the great ultimates of national destiny, but they little deem that there are also 
invisible machinists at work inclosing themselves no less than the country in 
a network of hidden causes, whose woof is spun by the hands of mightier 
statesmen than earth, and rulers whose viev/less batteries of power galvanize 
even the very stones beneath men's feet into preachers of their resistless pur- 
poses. 

The paragraph in the Cleveland Plaindealer above referred to, is as fol- 
lows : 

"THE PRESIDENT ELECT A SPIRITUALIST. 

" It SO happened that Conklin, the test medium from New York, was in Cleveland on the 
day when President Lincohi arrived on his way to Washin<jton. Being a Republican himself, 
and not wishing to run an opposition to the distinguished visitant, he broke up his outi 
levees at the Johnson to attend that of President Lincoln at the Weddell. The moment he 
set eyes on Mr. Lincoln, he recognized in him a very peculiar individual who had formerly 
been a frequent visitor at his room in New York, but whose name he had never been made 
acquainted with. He used to come alone, sit silently, question mentally, and depart as he 
came, unnoticed. On one occasion he got a remarkable test, which was published in the 
Spiritualist at the time, in New York. On referring to a file of that paper, Mr. Conklm 
furnished us with the narrative, which ran as follows : 

'"A GOOD TEST. 

" ' A gentleman who has often visited Mr. ConkHn, called upon him on the evening of 
March 23, for the usual purpose of communicating with his spirit friends. 

" 'After asking some twenty or more mental questions, which he briefly stated wei"e an- 
swered correctly, he put the following question : ' Can you inform me of Mr. K. ' s condition ? ' 
The answer, written through Conklin's hand, was: 'Yes; he is present now.' Q. When 
did he die ? A. Yesterday morning ; he is happy, but cannot communicate. The gen- 
tleman departed from his genei"al]y taciturn conduct to say this was a very remarkable case, 
for the friend he had inquired foi . and whom that communication stated to be present, he 
had left three days previously in Wisconsin, twelve hundred miles distant, alive, and though 
indisposed, pronounced by his physician to be fast recovering from a long illness. At Mr. 
Conklin's solicitation he promised to inform him if the communication should prove correct. 
In accordance with his word, the stranger did call on Conklin the next morning and informed 
him that he had just received a telegi^aphic dispatch from a brother-in-law of Mr. K.'s, 
announcing his death on the previous morning, and at the hour stated by the spirit. Mr. 
Conklin says that Mr. Lincoln is the identical gentleman referred to in the Spiritualist ; 
that he remembers him from the peculiarity of his appearance, from his frequent calls, and 
as the recipient of this particular test.' " 

Besides many faithful and efficient friends of the cause in Cleveland, the 
labors of Mrs. H. M. F. Brown, editress of a stirring little paper entitled the 
Agitator^ have produced a marked effect upon the community by aiding the 
dissemination of Spiritualism no less than liberal ideas generally. Mrs. 
Brown not only edited the Agitator, but, by her able lectures, essays, and con- 
tributions to all the reformatory and spiritual papers of the day, has for years 
done noble service to the cause of Spiritualism. As a resident of Cleveland, 
she exerted a marked influence in that city. Here also resided for some time 
Professor William Denton, the eminent geologist, who, with his wife and sis- 
ter, Mrs. Ann Cridge, rendered their names famous as the subjects of those 
remarkable experiments in psychometry which will be hereafter noticed, as re- 
corded in William Denton's philosophical work, entitled "The Soul of Things." 



AMERICAN' SPIRITUALISM. 303 

Several of the earliest spiritual conventions were held in Cleveland, which 
formed a point of attraction from the number and enthusiasm of the friends 
located there. From thence, too, Spiritualism radiated throughout the entire 
of Oliio, rendering that State famous in the Iiistory of the movement. Before 
taking leave of the beautiful "Forest City," we shall introduce the record ot 
some manifestations which, although as well attested as any facts on the page 
of history, have, from their marvellous character, occasioned much incredu- 
lous comment from the sceptical. 

It must be stated that the medium refen-ed to, although bearing the same 
name as the celebrated Mr. D. D. Home, generally called Hume, of Euro- 
pean reputation, was no relation to him, nor were the parties even acquainted 
■with each other. We shall give tlie following statement as nearly as possible 
in the words of the correspondent of the Spiritual Telegraph, Mr. S. W. 
Turner, the well-kno^vn and respected citizen of Cleveland in whose experi- 
ence the facts transpired. 

"MAITIFESTATIONS AT CLEVELAND. 

"Cleveland, December 13, 1S57. 

" Mr. Charles Partridge : Dear Sir, — I am requested by my spirit-friend, Captain 
Robert Kidd, to ^^Tite a history of some manifestations that have occurred at this place 
^vithin the last two or tliree months, and send it to you for publication in the Spiritual 
Telegraph, provided that course would meet your approval. I will endeavor to give you 
a plain statement of facts, leaving you to present them to your readers as you may think 
proper. 

" Yours, for the truth, S. W. Turner. 

"INCIDENT OF THE MONEY. 

"On Wednesday, August 26, ^Ir. William Hume lost his pocket-book, containing five 
dollars in bills, one one and two twos, which fact he communicated to us on the Thursday 
morning. 

"At dinner the same day Captain Kidd, the controlling spirit of Mr Hume, com- 
menced rapping. We interrogated the spirit to know if he could find the medium's money, 
and received in answer the promise that he v.^ould tiy. 

" On Friday, the 2Sth, the spirit informed us by raps that he had found the money, biat 
refused to return it at that time. 

"On the following day, the 29th, another spirit, calling himself 'Mr. Patrick Murphy, 
Esq., from Dublin,' informed us by raps that Captain Kidd had taken two dollars out of 
the pocket-book. On Tuesdaj', September i, the spkits gave directions for us to hold a 
circle on Wednesday evening, at which time, they said, they would restore the pocket- 
book and money. On Wednesday evening, as promised, the book was returned — short 
two dollars — by being suddenly thro\Mi into the lap of a lady present, but in such a man- 
ner, and from such a point, as to render it impossible that any one in the room could have 
had any agency in touching it. Upon inquiring about the missing two dollars, we were in- 
formed that the money was on board the steamer North Star, then at her dock m this 
place. 

' ' On Thursday, the ^^^:iter, in company with IMr. William Hume, went on board the 
steamer North Star. Immediately on entering it J\Ir. Hume became aitranced, and, seiz- 
ing me by the hand, led me to the spot where the money was found by myself, under the 
direction of the spirit. I found the bill about eight feet from the main deck, on the top of 
a coil of string. It was neatly folded up into about an inch square, but so tightly pressed 
together as to require much time and patience to unfold it without destro3-ing the bill. 
From the time we entered the boat until I found the bill, I never lost sight of JMr. Hume, 
or loosed his hand. The bill could only just have been deposited where I found it, or it 
would have been discovered, knocked do-i\-n, or in some way displaced, and I myself, under 
direction, was the first to see and lay hands upon it. After we had succeeded in unfolding 
our prize, Mr. Hume — nov/ restored to his normal state — and myself sat do\vn to ex- 
amine the bill and converse upon the subject. After a time I handed it to Mr. Hume, 
who put it in his vest pocket. He had taken a seat opposite me, so that I closely observed 
his every action. After conversing for a few minutes I asked him to let me see the bill 



304 HISTORY OF MODERN 

again; but when Mr Hume searched for it in the vest pocket where he had placed it, 
although he turned the pocket inside out, to our astonishment it was not to be found. 
Every pocket and place about Mr. Hume was searched, but to no purpose ; the bill was 
gone. 

"Mr. 'Hume continued in close company with me the remainder of the time until we 
arrived at my residence. Immediately on our entering the door ]\Ir. Hume was entranced, 
and again seizing me by the hand, he led me to a pantry containing some dishes, and on tlie 
top shelf of which, some eight feet from the floor, was a covered dish, toward which, using 
my hand, the medium pointed. Being out of reach, I took a chair which stood near, 
stepped upon it, uncovered the dish, when, to my surprise, I found a bank bill williin the 
dish, twisted like a cord, and tied up in three knots so tightly that it was with the greatest 
difficulty I could undo them without destroying the note. When I had succeeded, to my 
utter astonishment, I found the identical two-dollar bill which, unkno\Mi to Mr. Hume, I 
had carefully marked on board the North Star, not half an hour previous. After a close 
examination of this bill, I placed it in my pocket-book, saying, at the same time, to Mr. 
Hume that it was of no use for him to have the money, as I did not think the spirits would 
let him keep it. 

"On the same evening, namely, September 3, in company with Mr. Hume I went 
dovsm to the dock to witness the departure of the North Star steamer. The evening was 
beautifully bright and clear. After the boat had left, Mr. D. A. Eddy, the medium., and 
myself, were standing upon the dock, no other person being present. I took the two-dollar 
bill from my pocket and gave Mr. Eddy the history of its travels, after which Mr. Hume 
requested me to give it to him, saying he would put it in a place that he did not tliink tlie 
spirits could get at. So saying, he drew from his pocket a common shot-bag, containing 
some silver coin, and put the bill in the bag, shaking it well down. 

"He then gave the bag a twist and placed it in his left-hand pocket, saying, at the same 
time, 'There; I guess you' — meaning the spirits — 'won't get it again.' Immediately 
after speaking these words he became entranced, and said, 'I must go.' I replied, 
* Where? ' He replied, ' To your house ; and when I go I shall take something with me.' 
I then understood he spoke from the spirit. A change then seemed to come over him, and 
another control said, ' The fellow with the big black whiskers ' — meaning the spirit that 
had left — ' has taken the medium' s money, every cent. ' Mr. Eddy and myself immediately 
searched the pocket where Mr. Hume had, a minute before, deposited the bag under our 
very eyes, and, as well as the place would admit of, his whole person, but not a trace could 
be found of the bag, or the least possibility of its concealment about him. On coming to 
his normal state we told Mr. Hume nothing of what had transpired, but I said to him, 
' Come, let us go home.' 

" Upon this we walked towards my carriage, which was some six or eight rods from 
where we stood. 

"Mr. Hume had a constant habit of thrusting both his hands into his pockets Avhen 
walking. He did so now whilst proceeding to the carriage, when he immediately turned 
to me with an accent of indignant vexation, exclaiming, ' There, now, I am beat ; the bag 
is gone, and I have not one cent left to bless myself with ! What shall I do? ' After en- 
joying a good laugh, and assuring Mr. Hume it would be all right, we took leave of our 
friend, Mr. Eddy, and drove home ; at the same time I determined in my own mind I 
would not for one moment lose sight of Mr. Hume until the bag and money were restored. 
On arriving at my house I at once proceeded into the parlor with ]\Ir. Hume, where we 
sat down a few moments. 

"I then invited Mr. Hume to accompany me into the front yard, which he did. Whilst 
standing at the gate an influence suddenly entranced him, and seizing me by the coat- 
collar, he said, in the tone of the last spirit control : ' I see the fellow with the big black 
whiskers that got the medium's money.' Upon this he started off, dragging me along furi- 
ously after him, to the back part of the house. On arriving opposite the dining-room he 
dashed in, hurling me after him with a force that four men in their normal state could 
scarcely have exerted, exclainmig, on entering the room, ' There ! there ! ' pointing to the 
window at the opposite side. And there, indeed, my eye caught the bag, placed in one 
corner of the Avindow. 

" Mr. Hume let go his grip of me, and I walked to the window and secured the bag. 
The end of the bag was tied in a hard knot, but the contents were all safe and the money 
intact.' 

"HISTORY OF THE KING MANIFESTATIONS, 

" On Monday, September 23, Mrs. Turner reminded me that on the following Simday 
our son and only child would be twenty-one years of age. On this occasion she expressed 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM 305 

a wish to make him a handsome present, and after some consultation on the subject, decided 
that it should be a diamond ring. She described to me a very handsoine one which she 
had seen at the store of our friend, Mr. N. E. Crittenden ; and as the steamer to which our 
son was attached as a clerk was to leave for Lake Superior on the following day, it was 
necessary that the ring should be procured at once, so as to present it to him before his 
departure. 

"Mrs. Turner remarked that she was sorry she could not present it on the Sunday, but 
agreed to do so the next day. On Thursday, the 24th, I went to the store of j\Ir. Critten- 
den, bought the ring which Jilrs. Turner had described to m.e, and at the dinner hour gave 
it to her. When I left my house, about two o'clock, Mrs. Turner was sitting beside her 
•work-table, on which was a small work-box. She held the ring in her hand for some time, 
extolling its beauty, when she raised the cover of the box, placed the ring inside it, and 
closed the cover tightly over it. She then asked me if I would go at once to the boat to 
fetch our son George. On receiving an answer in the affirmative, she added, ' Tell George 
I want to see him immediately.' I left the house, got mto my buggy, drove quickly to the 
boat, and telling my son his mother wished to see him, made him get into the buggy and 
drive off home. He went at a rapid pace, arrived home, and found his mother sitting as I 
had left her. It could not have been twenty minutes since I had parted from her, and she 
afterwards declared she had never for one moment quitted her seat. On the arrival of her 
son, Mrs. Turner, with gi'eat delight, raised the cover of the work-box, intending to hand 
him the ring ; when, to her gi^ief and consternation, she found the said ringv/as gone. After 
a most anxious but diligent search, she became convinced the jewel was really gone, and 
her dismay and vexation cannot be described. 

" Not a soul had entered the room ; not a thing had been stirred or moved in it since 
Mrs. Turner, in my presence, deposited that ring within the box, whose contents, together 
with every place and article in the room, were now ransacked in vain for its discovery. 
Shortly after this mysterious disappearance, Mr. and jNIrs. Eddy arrived to spend the after- 
noon with my wife. Being apprised of what had happened, Mr. Eddy came do^^^l at once 
to me on board the boat, and said, ' Are you aware that a Isurglary has been committed in 
your house, to-day ? ' Upon informing me of the transaction, I said, by impression, ' De- 
pend upon it. Captain Kidd, the spirit, has got that ring, and means to take it up the lake, 
and present it to George on the Sunday as his mother wished to do.' Mr. Eddy answered, 
' George feels much gi^ieved about it, and thinks he will never get it.' I replied, 'It is all 
right ; George vrill have it, that's a sure thing.' In the evening of the same day, while at 
tea with our friends, Mr. Hume being present, the spirit Captain Kidd commenced rapping 
and spelled out, ' I have dropped your ring in the lake.' After a few moments he entranced 

the medium, and said, ' For once in my life I have made a d d blunder. I thought to 

take the ring to show it to my Katy,* for I knew that she would be pleased to see it. It 
was my intention to have returned and replaced it in the casket before it was missed, 
that you might have presented it as you intended to the noble George. But just as I 
was leaving the west pier, my battery gave out ; the ring dropped in the lake, and now lies 
in fifteen feet of water, and at about the same distance from the pier. Now, one of two 
things I will do. Either the ring shall be returned to-morrow, or its equivalent, one 
hundred and ten dollars m gold, which ought to satisfy any reasonable person. I do not 
know at this time what course I shall pursue, but thmk I shall get the ring. I am going 
to have a talk with my scientific friends about it, and then I wiU direct you what I wish you 
to do.' 

" On the morning of the 25th, while at breakfast, after Mr. Hume had been helped, a 
spirit controlled him, compelled him to refuse a mouthful of food, and informed us that at 
one o'clock that day they would take the medium doMoi to the end of the pier, and dive him 
off into the lake, with the intention of recovering the lost treasure. They furthermore or- 
dered that Mrs, Turner, Dr. Eaton, and myself, should accompany him; that we should pro- 
cure a hook and line, fix it in the manner they described, and put it in the medium's pocket; 
but above all, that we should say nothing to him about what they proposed to do. At din- 
ner the spirit again controlled the medium, not permitting him to taste a morsel of food that 
day. At one o'clock, the hour appointed, Mrs. Turner, Dr. Eaton, the medium, and my- 
self, went down to the pier as directed. This pier not being planked over, I borrov/ed a 
boat and rowed Mrs. Turner out, while Dr. Eaton and the medium walked on to the tim- 
bers to the end of the pier. The medium, being under strong control and deeply entranced. 

* " Katy, Captain Kidd's spirit bride, was his affianced wife on earth, and was the first to approach him from 
the bright spheres into which her pure spirit had risen. Captain Kidd's earth-hfe was such as to render his con- 
dition in the spheres a truly deplorable one. Although his plane, as he represented it, was still far belo'V hers, 
yet by aid of her bright influence he is slowly progressing, and hopes eventually to become worthy of her and 
effect a permanent spiritual union with her. Katy, at the time the ring was dropped, the spirit said, was so- 
journing in tlie region of Lake Superior. S. W. TL;,?jrEK." 

20 



3o6 HISTORY OF MODERN 

went down on fhe inside of the pier, out of sight of my boat with Mrs. Turner ; there ur- 
dressed, and after putting on a pair of old pantaloons, went up to the top of the pier, ana 
stood some ten minutes, I should think, apparently gazing off into the lake, but evidently in 
a state of_total unconsciousness. Meantime, I pushed the boat round to the front part of 
the pier, to be ready for whatever might arise. Suddenly the medium plunged off into the 
lake, head-foremost. 

" After being in the water about half a minute, he came to the surface at least forty feet 
from where he had sunk, with both hands apparently full of sand and gravel, and struck off 
into the lake. After swimming about for a considerable time, some motions were made 
which impressed me to push towards him. This I accorduigly did, until within his reach, 
when he seized the boat and cried, in the well-known tones of the pirate spirit, Kidd; ' Cap- 
tain, we came d d near drowning the medium, but here is the ring ; ' at the same time 

he handed me the ring into the boat. I then wished to help him into the boat, but the con- 
trolling spirit refused, saying, ' Vv^'e will take care of the medium.' 

"After swimming about for some fifteen or twenty minutes longer, he was brought out 
of the water, and although Mr. Hume's health at that time was very poor, and he was ex- 
ceedingly weak, he manifested on this occasion neither exhaustion nor fatigue. 

" 'Such, Friend Partridge, is the history of one of the most striking manifestations of 
Spirit-power that my eyes ever beheld. I could give you the history of many more through 
the same wonderful medium, but as I have given all that was desired by our spirit friends, 
I wUl close by requesting that you make such use of this communication as you see fit. 
t " Yours truly, 

"Samuel W. Turner. 

" This is to certify that I have witnessed the manifestations recorded above, and testify 
to the truthfulness of the statement, as made by Mr. S. W. Turner. 

" [Signed] Dr. G. C. Eaton." 

Many manifestations of an equally marvellous character are supplied to 
the author on the faith of the most unimpeachable testimony ; our space, 
however, forbids us to narrate further incidents in connection with this wonder- 
fully endowed medium, whose exceptional history alone would fill a volume. 

The following description of Spiritualism in the Western Reserve about 1857, 
some six years subsequent to the visit of the Misses Fox, must conclude our 
notice of this section of country. The communication is from the pen of a 
highly esteemed correspondent of the Spiritual Telegraph : 

" The Western Reserve, composed of the northeast portion of this State, is a section of 
country where Spiritualism is advocated by the majority of the inhabitants. Churches which 
have heretofore been fiUed to overflowing with orthodox worshippers are now deserted. 
The altars where priests thvmdered forth the terrors of ' hell fire, infant damnation,' and 
the doctrine of ' an angry and revengeful God' are now silent. In the small. village of 
Newton Falls, where fierce orthodoxy absolutely raged, three out of the six churches are 
closed, and the other three are almost deserted. In the meantime spiritual meetings are 
thronged everywhere, and the number of believers far exceeds my most sanguine expectations. 
The ' Buckeyes ' have not only received the phenomenal truths of Spiritualism, but are 
fast putting its glorious teachings into practical reality. The consequence is that a more 
liberal, open-hearted, and harmonious commmiity is not to be found anywhere. A spirit of 
charity and kiirdness prevails on all sides, which bids fair to promise the establishment of 
'peace on earth, and good will tovv^ard men.' Such are the fruits of Spiritualism on the 
Western Reserve. The Spiritualists held a mass-meeting there on the three first days of 

July. 

" Amongst the speakers were Warren Chase, Mrs. H. M. F. Brown, Dr. UnderhiU, Mrs. 
Warner, etc. 

" As I was unable to attend in person, I cannot give you a report of the speeches, but all 
present informed me the meeting went off most harmoniously, and not a harsh word or dis- 
cordant note broke the tranquillity of that vast assemblage of earnest seekers for truth. 
The number of persons in attendance was estimated at nearly ten thousand." 

From this time public Sabbath meetings have been regularly sustained in 
Cleveland. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 3° 7 

Supported by many of the principal inhabitants of the city, and con- 
ducted by ladies and gentlemen whose character and position command the 
respect of the whole community, few cities have sustained the pubhc advocacy 
of their beUef with greater credit to the cause, than the Spirituahsts of Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED OHIO. 

"Angels moved in the space enchanted, 
Twixt the sky and the valley haunted." 

KOONS'S AND TiPPIE'S SPIRIT ROOMS. 

We have frequently referred to that singular phase of spirit-power which 
manifests itself in playing on musical instruments, producing sounds, lights, 
extraordinary movements of ponderable bodies, and even causing human 
beings to float in the air. The mediums through whom this class of phe- 
nomena have been produced, were and still are, very numerous. 

The manifestations which first attracted attention at Hydesville were of 
this character, and besides being at times extremely powerful and varied, 
were remarkable for their spontaneity, and production without the invoca- 
tory processes of the circle. 

In reviewing the history of modern Spiritualism, there mil be found a class 
of phenomena, even more striking than all others, namely, those which seem 
to require the condition of darkness for their successful achievement. 
Amongst the mediums most celebrated for the production of the latter kind 
of spiritual manifestations, the Davenport Brothers have been the most \videly 
known, but the initiatory experiments of "the spirits" in this direction, and 
by far the most powerful which have ever been performed in modern times, 
owe their origin to the mediumship of Jonathan Koons and his family, of 
whose spirit rooms, and the marvels enacted therein, we now propose to 
give a consecutive account. 

In the treatment of this subject, as with all other phases of the move- 
ment, our chief embarrassment is "the multitude of our riches." 

Our account of Koons's spirit rooms being necessarily limited, we only 
premise, therefore, that, in addition to such descriptions as the author has veri- 
fied by personal investigation, no other ^\-itnesses will be cited than those 
whose well-known and unimpeachable character will commend their state- 
ments to respectful acceptance. . 

Millfield Township, Athens County, Ohio, is a rough, stony district, inter- 
sected by pine woods and ranges of barren hills. In one of the wildest por- 
tions of this primitive region, sheltered by tall forests, and swept by the 
tempestuous blasts that moan tlirough the gorges of hills, which are up- 
heaved on every side as if the whole district had been formed by the 
convulsive throes of earthquakes, stands the scattered collection of farms 
and pioneer stores Avhich is called " Dover village." In 1850 this place 
was only accessible by a rough and unfrequented stage-road of sevent}'-two 
miles, from the capital cit}', Columbus. The action of storm and tempest 



3o8 HISTORY OF MODERN 

marked itself on the blasted pines, uprooted trees, and scattered masses 
of huge boulders, that strewed this wild road. 

These uidications of ancient flood and continuous storm become more 
and more marked as the traveller reaches the scene of the marvels which 
have procured for this region such a weird celebrity. 

In Millheld Township, more properly than in Dover itself, are two lonely 
farm-houses, some two or three miles apart, once respectively owned by Mi. 
Jonathan Koons and Mr. John Tippie. 

Both these persons were "well-to-do" farmers, maintaining large and in- 
dustrious families of various ages, from infants in arms to full-grown boys 
and girls. 

They bore the character of good neighbors, honest and respectable men, 
with no distinguishing traits to point them out as subjects of fanaticism, still 
less as persons capable of practicing any species of deception or imposture. 
On the farm of each might have been seen, some twelve or fourteen years 
ago, a rough, unpretending-looking log house, strongly built, but wholly undec- 
orated, and composed of a single room about fifteen feet by twelve. These 
rooms stood at some distance from the family dwellings, and being placed on 
open ground, unconnected with any other building or a single object that 
could afford a chance of concealment, they were well calculated to offer 
opportunities for the searching scrutiny to which they have been subjected 
The buildings were erected by Messrs. Koons and Tippie, under the direction 
of what claimed to be the spirits of human beings, as circle rooms, and fitted 
up Avith instruments, etc., from written plans and diagrams drawn out by the 
spirits with their own hands. 

In each room was a "spirit machine," which consisted of a somewhat com- 
plex arrangement of zinc and copper, serving the purpose, as the spirits 
alleged, of collecting and focalizing the magnetic aura used in the manifesta- 
tions. This novel battery was placed upon a long wooden table, by the side 
of several instruments, provided according to direction, and consisting of a 
harp, guitar, violin, accordion, tambourine, triangle, several bells, a tin trum- 
pet, and a variety of toys. 

Two drums of different sizes were slung up on a high frame, and a round- 
table was so placed as to come in contact with the square wooden one sup- 
porting the instruments. 

The mediums usually sat in a semicircle about the round table, and the vis- 
itors were accommodated, to the number of twenty or more, on benches at 
the back of the first circle. 

As both rooms were built on the same plan, and the manifestations in each 
were conducted in a similar manner, it will only be necessary in future to 
speak of Koons's spirit room, which was the first designed, and where the cir- 
cles were originally organized. The phenomena consisted of performances on 
the various instruments, writing and drawing, loud knockings, shaking of the 
log houses, beating of the drums, and conversations with those present, all of 
which were accompUshed by the spirits themselves. 

The room was darkened, or illuminated only by spirit lights, which at times 
were brilliant enough to reveal flitting forms and hands of various sizes, which 
were made more apparent by being steeped in a weak solution of phosphorus, 
which was prepared and placed on the table, by the desire of the spirits, for 
their use. 

In this way these hands Avere rendered distinctly visible, and could be seen 
writing with wonderful rapidity, carrying about the instruments, and beating 
the drums with superhuman power. By written and oral communications, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 309 

given direct from the spirits, a vast amount of strangely worded intelligence 
Avas rendered, enough, in fact, to fill a volume of several hundred pages. The 
manifestations were invariably produced under stringent test conditions, that 
is, the mediums were so placed as to render any movement on their part lia- 
ble to instant detection, besides being so hemmed in on every side that any 
change of their positions, much less any violent action, had they desired it, 
v/ould have been simply impossible. All the manipulations of the instruments 
also, were conducted at such a distance from the circle as to render the agency 
of any human being impossible. In many instances, the luminous hands of 
the spirits were placed in those of the visitors, and melted away whilst they 
were held. These hands alone, forming, disappearing, tapering off beyond 
the wrist into empty space, moving hither and thither with inconceivable 
rapidity, and becoming subject to the scrutiny of curious visitors, constituted 
a phenomenon which proved the genuine character of the whole transaction, 
and presented one of the most marvellous problems for scientific inquiry that 
the history of man has ever offered. Another curious feature of these circles 
was the fact that though immense feats of strength were performed in total 
darkness, always excepting the occasional illuminations referred to above, 
none of the closely-packed audience were ever struck or injured, proving that 
intelligence guided the movements, and invisible eyes pierced the gloom 
impervious to mortal sight. It is also noticeable that most of the strangers 
who visited the circles, however sedulously they might conceal their names, 
were addressed orally by the spirits, sometimes in the very tones of their 
deceased friends, and very commonly with unmistakable tests of their iden- 
tity. In this way, names were given and facts revealed v/hich convinced hun- 
dreds of visitors, not only of some wonderful occult power in the operations, 
but still more to their satisfaction, of the actual presence of departed friends, 
of whose existence no human being present could be aware but themselves. 

Apart from these incidental tests, the circle seemed to be conducted by 
a band of spirits who represented themselves as having lived in cycles of 
time long prior to the date assigned by biblical theologians for the advent 
of man on this planet. 

These spirits, who called themselves " of the most ancient and primal 
order of man," spoke of the race known in the Bible by the generic title of 
" Adam " as mortals of a comparatively modern date, and of themselves as 
by no means the first of earth's inhabitants, though ante- dating the theological 
"Adam " by thousands of years. 

They represented their leaders as "most ancient angels," of different orders 
and ranks, and claimed to be governed by certain individual spirits, who, in their 
written communications, styled tlaemselves by the general name of " King," 
or rulers of different spiritual tribes. Sometimes they signed themselves 
"King" No. I, 2, 3, and sometimes" Servant and Scholar of God;"and one 
spirit, who drew charts, diagrams, etc., called himself " Master, of Paints." 

"Oress" was the name of an ancient angel who professed to give instruc- 
tion to the circle. * 

The communications referred to many subordinate spirits who aided in the 
manifestations, and played the instruments; also, to the souls of departed hu- 
man beings who had recently entered the spirit-world, and bands of dark, 
undeveloped spirits, who, with their several leaders, were enabled, through 
the strong corporiety of their spiritual bodies, to produce powerful feats of 
strength which more sublimated natures could not have performed. Fore- 
niost of the leaders who came under the latter categoiy, was a spuitwho sub- 

* See Frontispiece. 



3IO HISTORY OF MODERN 

sequently became the controller of the Davenport Brothers' manifestations, 
and though he retained the generic title of " King," he claimed to be one 
" Morgan," a famous Welsh pirate, who, while living on earth, had been knight- 
ed by Charles II. of England, and appointed Governor of Jamaica. 

Having given these preliminary details of the scene and its weird actors, 
we now call attention to the circumstances under which Jonathan Koons, 
"the solid Ohio farmer," became a participator in this drama of unearthly 
marvel. 

From a letter addressed by Mr. Koons to a religious paper, entitled the 
Seraph's Advocate, published at Syracuse, New York, we extract the follow- 
ing items of autobiography : 

"I received yours of March 8, 1853, and with pleasure respond to your request that I 
would inform you of the circumstances under which we receive our communications. In 
the first place, however, I would state that I had become an advocate of atheistical senti- 
ments, through the perversions of orthodox teaching under which I had been educated, and 
which at an early age took a deep hold upon my mini Finding myself, as I grew up to 
reason and think on such subjects, sadly disappointed in my expectations of blessing, com- 
■ fort, and instruction, I first began to question the mystical doctrines of orthodoxy, and then 
rejected them as incomprehensible and unreasonable, when, instead of attempting to con- 
vince me of my errors, my teachers heaped curses and denunciations uponme, until, in my 
agony of spirit, I was often constrained to cry aloud, ' Lord, save me or I perish! ' Still no 
help seemed to come. The teachings of eternal destruction, election, mfant damnation, 
etc., seemed to me to gi^ow more and more irreconcilable with the idea of a 'Merciful 
Father,' or an 'all-wise and just Judge.' At length, finding no explanation of ' the mys- 
teries of Godliness ' from man, I became sceptical of all man-taught doctrine, and doubt- 
ful of spiritual existence altogether." 

Mr. Koons goes on to relate how, having heard that strange things were 
said to be wrought by spirits in different parts of the country, and at last in 
his own vicinity, about the beginning of the year 1S52, he made a visit to a 
neighboring family, amongst whom, it was reported, these wonders could be 
witnessed. Mr. S., the father of the family through whom Mr. Koons com- 
menced his investigations, had a daughter who was a strong physical and 
highly developed medium, and through her he beheld phenomena which his 
plain common sense and shrewd intellect assured him were entirely out of 
the young girl's power to produce. 

From this point he continued to satisfy the cravings of his awakened curi- 
osity through every opportunity of which he could avail himself. But the 
mystery thickened around liim, and cumulative testimony only the more 
surely proved that the marvels he saw and heard were not the work of hu- 
man agency. At length he set himself to discover how he could pursue his 
investigations at more leisure and nearer home. To this inquiry he was re- 
peatedly assured, at every circle he visited, that medium-power existed in 
every member of his own family, while one amongst them was gifted beyond 
the ordinary lot of mortals. On naming over the various members of his 
household to discover Avho was this highly favored individual, the spirits pro- 
claimed it to be himself, assuring him that he, Jonathan Koons, was at that 
time, in his own person, " the most powerful medittm on earth." 

The worthy farmer at first laughed heartily at the idea of there being any 
thing " of a spirtual nature " about him; but when this statement was re- 
peated through various sources, and instructions for the development of his 
unknown powers were given which seemed too simple to shock his sense of 
dignity or compromise his manhood, he resolved to try them and " see what 
would come of it," 

Mr. Koons proceeds with his narrative as follows : 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 3 1 1 

" It was not long after my return home, that I fomid myself visited with the peculiar 
influence, besides which my entire family became developed with these strange spiritual 
gifts, from the child of seven months to my oldest son, of eighteen years, being nine in 
number besides myself and wife, making eleven mediums in my own family." 

Mr. Koons justly congratulated himself on the "grand opportunities" 
which such a home circle afforded him of private investigation. It Avould 
appear that the whole family were so delighted -with these novel and interest- 
ing results that they not only sat constantly for their own edification, but 
cheerfully admitted all visitors whom the reports of their new acquii-ements 
attracted to their family circle. And here let it be stated, once for all, that 
Messrs. Koons and Tippie never received any compensation for their vast 
expenditure of time, service, and means, not even accepting of remuneration 
for the abundant hospitality with which they entertained the crowds who 
flocked to witness their wonderful demonstrations. In the erection of their 
rooms, the purchase of instruments, together with their wear and tear, and 
the immense outlay which an entertainment to crowds of visitors entailed 
upon them, all was cheerfully given without the charge of a single dollar, 
hence, the chief object which is supposed to influence humanity in the eyes 
of a selfish community, namely, the love of gain, was utterly wanting to in- 
duce trickery or deception, even had it been possible. It might, however, 
with still more propriety, be questioned, what these simple Ohio farmers had to 
lose, when it is remembered that the peace of. their once quiet homes was 
destroyed, their domestic privacy invaded, their property consumed, their 
good names loaded with insult, and the most shameful and wanton persecu- 
tions directed against them, and all for their claim of a spiritual sotu'ce for 
manifestations which it was physically iinpossible that they could have origi- 
nated themselves. 

Mr. Koons continues thus : 

" We had the greatest evidences, and strongest demonstrations in the whole country; 
yet, as far as it concerned myself, it might have been ' electricity, biology, Satan, ' or 
what not ; certain it is, to my unquiet mind I could not deem it the work of disembodied 
spirits. 

" I was discomfited in all my o%vn investigations, and utterly unreconciled to the spiritual 
idea. ' 

" I knew how wonderful it all was, how unaccountable to myself, and even how beautiful, 
yet whilst my family and friends were feasting in the enjoyment of angelic correspondence, 
I was groaning in doubt and uncertainty. At last, through the mediumship of my eldest 
son, it was promised that if J. would build a room and construct a table according to a plan 
that the spirits laid down for me, I sliould have all the evidence I required, besides bringing 
conviction of the soul's immortality to hundreds of other darkened minds. 

" Determined to fathom the mystery to the utmost extent I could, I at last set to work, 
built the room, constructed the spirit table, according to exact direction, and then placed pen- 
cil and papers upon it. Tliis done, I carefully closed, locked, sealed, and guarded that room, 
so that no human being could have access to it but myself. 

" At the end of a certain specified time, I unclosed it, entered, and found the blank sheets 
of paper I had left, covered with written communications addressed to myself, and contain- 
ing wise admonitions, gentle rebukes of my scepticism, encouraging promises, and many in- 
ternal evidences of their having been written by high intelligences, and wise, beneficent spirit 
friends. 

For several succeedmg weeks I continued my experiments, until I had piles of communi- 
cations, produced in tlie silence and mystery of that spirit room, as I can solemnly testify, 
without the least possibility of human agency. It is not to be wondered at, then, that in 
process of time my inveterate scepticism gave way, and rny doubts melted into the assured 
conviction tliat I was in the hands of wise, high, and powerful spirits. At length the invisi- 
bles wrote out a bill for several instruments of music and other articles, all of which I pro- 
cured and disposed of as directed. Amongst other things, they asked for pistols, which they 



312 HIS TOR V OF MODERN 

have frequently charged themselves, and fired over the heads of the audience, hitting given 
marks in pitch darlaiess, with amazmg precision." 

After Mr. Koons had acceded to the request of the spirits to darken the 
room for strong physical manifestations, both the visitors and members of his 
own family were arranged by himself and his neighbors with the most jealous 
care, so as to prevent the possibility of any movement taking place without 
instant detection. After a time the spirits began to converse orally through 
the trumpets, sing, pray, lecture, draw charts of celestial scenery, diagrams of 
the spheres, and write long communications with their own hands in an in- 
credibly short space of time. 

Many of the communications thus written or spoken, v/ere of a highly 
philosophical character. In the former method, the spirits themselves phrased 
the writings, but in the latter, their family or their visitors were obliged to take 
down the words from memory, and thus it happens that the phraseology is far 
more characteristic of the Ohio scribes than of their spiritual authors. Un- 
fortunately for the satisfaction of the curious reader, spirit writings Avere in 
such request, and the generous mediums were so willing to gratify the in- 
satiate demands of their visitors, that little writing of any philosophical in- 
terest can now be procured. Beyond a communication to be hereafter quoted, 
therefore, we are cheifly dependent for specimens of this natiu-e on the im- 
perfect transcriptions of a human amanuensis. In some long but interesting 
communications, written in the spirit-room without human agency, it is said 
that spirits, in their communion with earth, manifest through two primitive ele- 
ments ; namely, first, an electro-magnetic element of which the spiritual 
body is composed; next, a physical aura, which emanates from the medium, 
or can be collected from material substances, analogous, it is supposed, to 
the element of " vitality " described in the preceding chapter. 

From the combination of these two, namely, the emanations of the spirit and 
the medium, a third or composite is formed, which is affected by the atmos- 
phere and human emanations. From the preponderance of the electro-mag- 
netic or spiritual element, the laws of cohesion and gravitation can be over- 
come, and through this spirits are enabled to dissolve and recompose substances 
with great rapidity, heave up and carry material bodies through the air, and 
cause them to float or sink in proportion to the strength of the battery formed. 
It is this element which enables some spirits highly charged with it, to come 
into contact with matter, and thus to use pencils, pens, etc., in writing, drawing, 
and playing on musical instruments. By aid of the physical or human aura — 
animal magnetism — they cause concussions, raps, shaking of furniture and 
heavy j)onderable bodies ; by this also they j)roduce spirit light, gathering it up 
so as to form an envelope of matter around their own hands, condense sound 
so as to be heard singing and speaking, and strike upon the heavier instru- 
ments. " The composite element is used more or less in all modes." 
It was chiefly through the prevalence of physical aura in the latter that they 
were enabled to speak through the trumpets, hence, for this feat they required 
the presence and peculiar magnetism of Mr. Koons's eldest son, through 
whom spirit voices could be heard in any place besides the circle at his 
father's house, also, the spirits, through this medium, could, they alleged, per- 
form on a full band of instruments anywhere. 

Mr. Koons's autobiographical notices conclude with a description of the re- 
ligious philosophy enunciated by the spirits of his circles, of which -we ofier 
the follov/ing summary : 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 313 

•• They teach, he says, that God is love, and has placed all men under the law of eter- 
nal progression, by which every living soul can become a participant of liis divine glory, 
when tliey ■^^^I1 to do so, through constant efforts to live a life of use, good, and purity. 
Also, that death, wliich dissolves the body, does not change the soul, which is the real man ; 
hence it behooves man to purify and cleanse his soul here upon earth, lest he should have 
to commence his progress, mstead of continuing it, hereafter. Also, they teach that v/e 
have spiritual bodies within our natural or material forms. That these cany the ruind Arithin 
them, and at death remain intact, separating from the earthly body, though retaining its 
form, and adhering to the spirit of whose tendencies and disposition it exliibits the actuality. 
This spiritual body, as well as the interior mind, are alike the subjects of eternal progres- 
sion, yet at tlie moment of earthly dissolution, it exhibits aU our vices or virtues, without 
palliation or concealment, and is gross or fine, dense or sublimated, bright as mid-day sun 
beams or dark as Erebus, in exact correspondence with our real moral state. Again, 
they declare that ' there is an elective element, divided through space by another element, 
which bears no affinity to it ; that spirits, at least such as communicate vvitli earth, cannot 
themselves penetrate this interior element ; m fact, to their appreliension, no one in the 
universe can do so, save only God; and this mysterious innermost, \\-ith aU its hidden and 
impenetrable glories, is called by spirits, the subter fluid . ' They declare ' that the electric 3 3 <^ 
element forms tlie various patlis in which planets and all other knowoi bodies in space travel 
and move m their respective orbits, but that nothing visible to spirits, or comprehensible to 
them as of an organic nature, can penetrate the reahns of the 'subter fluid,' yet it divides 
and permeates all space, and seems to hold in control the infinite realms of the electric ele- 
ment. Rays of light,' however, they say, ' can and do penetrate 'the subter fluid,' as 
they appear to issue from and return to it incessantly.' Also, 'There is a grand centr^ 
territory in the universe, ]<nov\Ti to exist by all spirits, and in aU worlds. It embrac^ 
iilmitable though unknown realms; yet its position as a vast central f)oint is defined, frora 
the fact that from thence, and to thence, seem to tend all the illimitable Imes of attraction, 
gravitation, and force, which connect terrestrial bodies, and lirdc together firmaments 
teeming wi.h lives and systems. All the innumerable firmaments, spangled witli an infinitude 
of solar and astral systems, seem to revolve around, and derive attractive and living forces 
from this unknown centre. Sometimes it is called ' the Celestial Realm.' Again ' The Cen- 
tral Sun,' 'Heaven,' 'God,' 'The Infinite Realm,' ' The Eternal Life !' Whole firma- 
ments thickly sown with suns and revolving satellites, appear but as specks of light in 
comparison with the inconceivable vastness of this celestial laborator)', invisible and 
boundless as it is, from which flows out, through all universes, the centrifugal and centripetal 
forces of being." 

Such are some of the teachings ■which, from time to time, were either AATitten 
by the spirits or spoken orally tlirough the trumpets. " What we had ^A^:itten 
down during the day," says Mr. Koons, " was often corrected by the spirits 
through the trumpets, but the deep and sublime impress they made upon oiu: 
minds in their reception, and the terrible power of the tones in which they 
were sometimes given, no language of mortals can describe." 

We are now in possession of a pamphlet entitled " Communications from 
Angels," written with their own hands ; also, oral communications spoken by 
angels, and ^\Titten down as they were delivered in presence of many wit- 
nesses, etc. This pamphlet is edited by Dr. J. Everett, a gentleman residing 
in Athens County, Ohio, who having investigated the phenomena exhibited at 
Koons' s room most thoroughly, became so deeply interested in what he wit- 
nessed that he spent much time and means in collecting the communications 
together and printing them in pamphlet form. With these, Dr. Everett fur- 
nishes a number of affidavits from individuals who had attended the circles, 
some chapters on the philosophy of spirit existence and communion, and a 
chart of the spheres, drawn lln'ough the hand of Nahum Koons in the trance • 
state, and explained by the spirits controlling him. 

From some of these sources we shall hereafter make a few extracts; but by 
way of presenting a detailed account of the phenomena ordinarily produced 
at the public circles, we shall now introduce a few notices furnished by such 
correspondents as will afford authentic and wholly rehable testimony to what 
tliey witnessed. 



314 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

The first statement we shall give is made by the well known and highl)* 
respected head of the firm of Stephen Dudley & Sons, Buffalo, New York. 
A more honorable and indisputable witness than the venerable Stephen Dud- 
ley we could not cite ; we shall therefore quote his letter in full, as it was 
originally printed in the Age of Progress : 

"Buffalo, December 15, 1854. 
" To the Editor of the Age of Progress: 

"Friend Albro, — Having made the visit to Koons's spirit room which I have long had 
in contemplation and arrived safely at home, I now proceed to redeem my promise to you, 
namely, to give you a faithful account of what I there witnessed with my eyes, ears, and 
touch. I am aware that my power is wholly inadequate to the task, nor do I think justice 
can be done to the subject by any one. I shall therefore content myself with telling you 
the plain trutt, and prominent facts, all the marvellous details of which requke too much 
language for me to write or you to publish. 

Our company consisted of four persons, namely, Mr. C , of New York ; two ladies, 

and myself We left Buffalo by railroad on Monday morning, and arrived at Koons's spirit 

room on the following Wednesday, November 29 The road from Columbus 

to the spirit room is seventy-two miles of very unpleasant stage-road. Prior to our arrival, 
arrangements had been made for a public circle that evening, hence there was quite a crowd, 
composed principally of near neighbors, the chief part of whom were sceptics. We, be- 
ing strangers, were by the politeness of Mr. Koons, provided with comfortable seats in an 
eligible position. 

" It was easy to see from the first, that it was a very inharmonious party; nevertheless, 
the spirits performed all they promised to do. After we were seated, Mr. Koons gave a 
short but very appropriate address, at the conclusion of which the spirits announced their 
presence by a tremendous blow on the bass drum. It sounded like the discharge of a can- 
non, and was succeeded by noises equally startling, occasioned by what was called ' the 
charging ' of the electrical apparatus by the spirits. 

"In this process, the large table and the log house itself shook like a tree in a gale of 
wind. 

" A reveille was then beaten by the spirits on the tenor and bass drums with tremendous 
power and almost distracting effect. Mr. Koons then took up one of two violins that were 
lying on the table before us, and drew his bow across it. Immediately the other was sound- 
ed, and presently the full band of all the instruments, of which there must have been quite 
a dozen, joined in, keeping admirable time, tune, and concert. 

"After the instrumental performance, Mr. Koons asked for a vocal accompaniment from 
the spirits, which they at once complied with, and I think if anything can give an idea of 
heaven upon earth, it must be the delightful music made by that angelic choir. 

" All this time there was a most extraordinary exhibition of spiritual pyrotechnics, seem- 
ing to consist of luminous bodies flying aboiit with the swiftness of insects, yet moving in 
orderly time to the music. In shape they resembled different-sized human hands. 

" The next exhibition was that of a spirit hand, as perfect as any hand of flesh and blood. 
It moved about amongst us, dropping peices of sandpaper steeped m phosphorus, prepared 
by Mr. Koons according to direction of the spirits. 

" The object of these motions seemed to be for us to pick up these pieces, so that the 
hand might come, and- by their light, be seen to take them from us. This was repeatedly 
done. In taking the piece from me, this spirit hand seemed to linger in contact with mine, 
in order that I might feel and examine it. It differed nothing from a hinnan hand, save in 
its excessive coldness. After some convei'sation with the spirits, which was conducted in a 
human voice through a trumpet, they bade us 'good-night,' and thus ended the public circle. 
About two hours after its dismissal, young Mr. Koons, the chief medium, and myself, went 
into the spirit room alone, to see if we could learn what would be the order of the proceed- 
ings for the next evening. The medium put the trumpet on the table, when it was uistantly 
elevated about the heigth of a man's head, and gave us 'good-evening,' to wliich we res- 
ponded. 

' ' I then commenced a conversation with them, asking if my wife and other dear depart- 
ed relatives were present. They said they were, and some very satisfactory evidences ensued 
of their presence. I told them we had come a long distance to see them, and were desirous 
of witnessing some of the more wonderful manifestations of their power, of which v.'e had 
heard so much. They replied that they knew how far we had come, and if all things were 
favorable, we should be gratified before our departure. Upon inquiring what they meant 
by ' things being favorable,' the leading spuit replied that he meant * a harmonious circle, 



AMERICAN' SPIRITUALISM. 315 

and not such a one as we had previously that evening.' After some further conversation, 
we were dismissed with ' good-nig]it. ' 

"The next evening, at seven o'clock, Mr. Koons, his wife, son, our party of four, and 
two gentlemen, investigators — nine in all — repaired to the spirit room. 

"All being seated and quiet, the single startling concussion on the drum announced that 
the spirits were ready to commence the performance of the evening. Again the table was 
charged, with the convulsive rattlings and tremblings before described. Tlie tremendous 
rcveiHe-w-xs beaten, Mr. Koons commenced playing on the violin, joined not only by tha 
wdiole band of instruments, but also with a large iiarmonicon which stood in the room, and 
on this occasion was played on, in a most masterly manner. Again they were asked for a 
vocal entertainment, which was given by several voices in such delicious strains, and in such 
exquisite harmony, that I must be permitted to say, if it was done by the ' Devil,' then is 
that worthy fit to lead a choir of angels. At an intei"\'al in the music, I asked ]\Ir. Koons 
if he would request the spirits to write for us. Without hesitation or delay, they supplied 
themselves with the paper and pencils wliich we had taken in and laid on the table. And 
here let me state that I had brouglit with me printing paper, unsized and unruled, hence, 
unlike any that could be procured in that part of the country, or indeed, anywhere but from 
a printing office ; also, I brought with me, purposely, one of Flesheim's Buffalo pencils. 
They placed the paper on which they were going to write immediately before me. Then, 
what appeared to be a human hand holding a pencil was plainly visible over the paper, and 
immediately commenced writing v.ith a rapidity that no mortal hand can equal or come near 
to. The paper, the hand, and the pencil, were so near to us, and so plainly visible by the 
luminosity of the hand, that we could all tlu-ee have touched them, and we were able to in- 
spect them at our leisure with the most perfect ease. My next neighbor was so intent upon 
the examination that he got his head immediately over the pencil, whereupon the hand 
made a sudden move upwards and hit his nose with the pencil, which gave him such a start 
that he drew his head back with considerable speed. When any one expressed a ^\dsh to see 
the hand move more plainly, as some did, the writing would cease, and the hand was dis- 
played, extended, opened, and shut, as if to show the flexibility of the joints and the kindly 
compliant disposition of its o\\'Tier. One of the ladies, who was not so near as we were, ex- 
pressed a wish that she had been more eligibly seated. Immediately the hand and paper 
moved to the corner of the table nearest to her, wTote there a few lines, and then returned 
to its former position. 

"When it had written both sides of the sheet full, it handed the pencil to me, which 
proved to be the same Buffalo pencil which I had myself placed on the table. The spirit 
hand then folded the paper, and placed it in mine. I took it, and was subsequently in- 
structed what to do with it. On receiving the paper, I found it too was the same that I 
had placed with the pencil. 

" After this the hand v.^as presented to each one in the room, and shaken by all save one, 
who was too timid to receive it. As before, it was deathly cold, but firm, and as solid, ap- 
parently, as a human hand. 

" After a few words of conversation through the trumpet, they dismissed us with the usual 
•good-night.' 

"In the course of the day, the spirit of my wife, who had been in the spheres about one 
5'ear, requested me to meet her in the spirit room at the close of the circle, with no one pres- 
ent but the medium. Of course I gladly attended the appointment, and she tried to con- 
verse with me tlii"ough the trumpet, but failed. Upon this, the presiding spirit, who had 
gi-eeted us on our entrance with a cordial salutation, apologized for her failure, and offered 
to speak for her ; and this he did, giving her language, and conveymg to me unmistakable 
evidence of her presence. In this way we conversed for some fifteen minutes, affording me a 
proof of spirit existence and intercourse, and withal a gratification, v.hich human language 
would faU to describe. It was at this inter\dew that I received insti'uctions from the presid- 
ing spirit to publish in the Buftalo Age of Frog!-ess, the communication %\Titten for me by 
the spirit hand. In obedience to these dhections, I send you the following, received under 
the circumstances which I have above, to the best of my abUity, faithfully described : 

"THE COMMUNICATION. 

"'To the friends from Buffalo and N'ew York : 

" ' We are glad to meet you here, yet we hope your visit has not been induced by a desire 
to gi-atify the idle curiosity which sends hither so many, upon whom we have bestowed our 
presence and manifestations in this room. We have labored here some considerable time 
now, and trust v/e have induced more tangible and philosophical views of Spiritualism than 
those of the M.D.s and D.D.s of the world, especially those of Buffalo, whose treatment 



3 1 6 HIS TOR Y OF MODERN 

of the subject has not contributed much to the enlightenment or elevation of manhind. Ouf 
object is to show the infidel, and prove to the sceptic, that there is a brighter state of exist- 
ence beyond' the shadow of the grave — a higher condition of being than that of earth. 
Mortals have for ages been gi'oping their way through doubts, fears, and despondencies, 
with regard to the future. Yet in all their researches, prompted by an earnest desire to 
know the truth concerning a future state of existence, how little do they realize of its 
actual nature, even when they strive to believe in the mystical teachings of theology ! 

" ' Our labors in this place are intended to establish that knowledge, and by presenting 
some views of man's hereafter which he can comprehend, prepare him practically for enter- 
ing upon its actual verities. Yes, friends, we know that as soon as man's interior percep- 
tions are quickened into higher action by the certainty of another life, and correct views of 
the preparatory duties demanded of him in this, his motives to action will be stimulated by 
that knowledge, and the icy chains of mental slavery will be broken, and superstitious doubt 
and fear will never again usurp their sway over the world. Were it not for the ties of love and 
kindred which still bind us to earth, be assured we should not labor in this way, or employ 
ourselves in such manifestations. How much longer our efforts here may continue, must 
depend much upon the patience, perseverance, and fidelity, of our mediums, also upon the 
conduct of those who participate in the light and knowledge which is shed abroad through 
their instrumentality. We are happy in this opportunity of congi-atulating our servant C, 
for his fervent zeal and ready devotion to our service, and for yielding up his personal efforts 
in aid of our mission to earth. We desire to say to him, as to our faithful servant Koons 
and family : ' Be of good cheer, and the rewards of your labor and forbearance will meet and 
gi-eet you in your bright abodes hereafter, even if long delayed, or altogether withheld from 
you, in divine wisdom and necessity, here.' Let the same message be accepted by all who 
cast in their mites to the treasury of light, knowledge, and human welfare. 

" 'Dictated by the spirit band of this room.' 

" In addition to the above communication, the presiding spirit gave me an oral and per- 
sonal message to the editor of the Age of Fj-ogress, informing me that he was well ac- 
quainted [spiritually] with him. In conclusion, I will state that any one who is anxious 
to see the original manuscript which was written by the spirit hand can be gratified by 
calling on me. 

" Stephen Dudley." 

Although the phenomena produced at Koons' s spirit room varied chiefly 
in intensity, rather than in form and oi'der, the following account of another 
visit there will be perused with interest, as it includes some account of the 
locality and family arrangements where the Avonders were enacted. The 
names of the witnesses also, as signed in attestation of the statement, will be 
recognized by any one well acquainted in Cleveland, as those of some of its 
most respectable and trustworthy citizens. 

"ASTOUNDING MANIFESTATIONS AT KOONS'S SPIRIT ROOM.— AGE OF PROGRESS, 

OCTOBER 29, 1854. 

*' The following is a report, made to the Cleveland Universe, published at Cleveland, 
Ohio, by a company of citizens who went from that city for the purpose of ascertaining the 
truth of the many wonderful reports which they had heard of spirit manifestations at the 
room of Mr. Koons. The investigators are among the most intelligent and respectable 
citizens of Cleveland. — Ed. Age of Fr ogress. 

"'REPORT OF THE CLEVELAND COMPANY. 

" ' Strange and interesting accounts having been given us of the spiritual manifestations 
occurring at the spirit room of Jonathan Koons, of Athens County, Ohio, the undersigned 
recently devoted a few days to visiting that place, and witnessing for themselves the won- 
derful phenomena there produced. From Cleveland, we went to Columbus by rail, and 
thence to Millheld, a distance of seventy miles, by private conveyance, over roads quite 
rough and hilly. Here we found two log houses fitted up as spirit rooms. These houses 
are about three miles apart, and each composed of a single room about twelve by fifteen 
feet in size. One house is on the farm of Mr. Jonathan Koons, the other on that of Mr. 
John Tippie, and both are used only for spiritual demonstrations, and were built under the 
direction of the .spirits. We stayed two nights at each place, and carefully examined each 
room and its contents to prevent any chance of our bemg deceived. In each room 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 317 

utands a table on whicli is placed a machine, constructed, like the rooms, under spiritual di- 
rection. This macliine is used by the spirits for the purpose, as they allege, of collecting 
and retaining the electricity of the circle, and it is ' charged,' before giving any demonstrations, 
at every sitting. On the table, and by the side of the machinery, lies a violin, accordion, 
harmonicon, tambourine, guitar, triangle, dinner-bells, etc., and a tin trumpet about two 
feet long. In front of the long table stands a round one, about four feet in diameter. 

Circles are held in each of these rooms almost every evening, and occasionally in the day 
time. A full circle at Mr. Koons's consists of himself, wife, and eight children ; at Mr. 
Tipple's, of himself, wife, and ten children. All are mediums in each family. They sit in 
a semicircle around the tables, which are connected at the ends with the square table or 
bench which sustains the instruments. Behind them are benches, usually occupied by 
twenty or more strangers, who sit as spectators and auditors, and whose position enables 
them to command the whole scene. We attended four sittings in the evening, and a 
few in the day time. At these circles, we were allowed to arrange the furniture, and ta 
seat the persons present in such order as we pleased ; and every facility was afforded us for 
carefully investigating all that transpired. During the circles, the following phenomena was 
produced: After the company were seated and the lights extinguished, the presence of the 
invisibles was manifested by several tremendous blows on the table, ceiling, and walls. The 
sounds were apparently made with the drumsticks, but their force and frequency was al- 
most deafening, and exceedingly startling. A reveille, was then beaten on the drums, 
which would do credit to experienced drummers. The violin, an old one not worth fifty 
cents, was tuned, and in the process the pegs slipped, and the bridge fell upon the floor. 
These mishaps were immediately remedied by the spirits. One of the party found fault that the 
violin wasnot tuned up to concert pitch. Being requested by the spirit to give the true pitch, 
he did so, when the instrument was finely tuned again, and several airs played upon it, not 
witli a bow, \)\x\. pizzicato. All this time, the violin was carried about to different parts of 
the room, and played sometimes, apparently, quite up against the ceiling, and then resting 
against some one of the company. It was at one time placed, strings dozvnzvard, on the linees 
of one of the party, and whilst his hands were groping in the dark all around it, so as to feel 
for the invisible performer, a tune was played upon it. The accordion, harmonicon, guitar, 
and other instruments, were also played in different parts of the room, or about our persons, 
■ as we wished. Sometimes all the instruments were played in full chorus admirably, and 
seemingly floating in the air. We also heard speaking, whistling, singing, and addresses 
through the horn. It would be impossible to convey any adequate idea of these musical 
performances : the time being strictly marked, now on the tambourine, triangle, drum, bells, 
etc., and the various instruments made to join in occasionally, playing solo and chorus 
alternately, produced a most pleasing effect. During the concert, woi"ds were frequently 
spoken through the horn, indicating that one of the invisibles presided over the performance. 
Also in tliis way, many amusing comments on the instruments and musicians were made, 
sometimes commending and sometimes severely criticizing them. 

"The manner of using the horn deserves notice. Before using it for speech it would be 
raised in the air, then a sentence would be distinctly articulated through it, when it would 
fall to the table. When we asked questions, the horn would rise, the answer be given, and 
it would again fall to the table. At our desire, they extended the horn to us, and allowed 
us to take hold of the large end of it, while they conversed through it. At our request to 
see a spirit hand, a piece of sandpaper steeped in phosphorus was taken up, by the strong 
clear light of which all present could see a hand entirely disconnected with anybody. The 
phosphoi-escent paper was held betv/een the finger and thumb, carried to all parts of the room, 
now rising to the ceiling, now passing repeatedly and slowly before the eyes of the circle, 
giving each one an opportunity of deliberately examining it. Again it took a wide sweep 
beyond the reach of any one in the room, and then returned close to our faces. Every 
portion of the hand was clearly disclosed, and its appearance was that of a natural human 
hand, strangely ending at the wrist in — nothing. 

" We then requested that a communication might be written by this hand, when imme- 
diately the horn was raised, and a voice said, ' We have no pencil ; could we borrow 
one ? ' Upon this a lady present held out a pencil, and the hand, still holding the phos- 
phorus paper, came and took it from her, and, laying down the paper, ^^Tote the following, 
the light of the phosphorus allowing us ail distinctly to see every mark made by the hand 
as it wrote with the pencil on the paper we had furnished. It was written with immense 
rapidity, far faster than any mortal could have accomplished it, and when finished, the fol- 
lowing communication was handed to one of our party : 

" ' To ike friends from Clevelajzd : 

" • The spirits who produce manifestations in this room wi-ite these lines to convince you 



3i8 



HISTORY OF MODERN 



of their varied power, and for the sake of removing doubts that exist, not only in your 
minds, but amongst Spritualists generally on this subject. 

" If the friends present will certify as to the manner in which these lines were written, 
and then publish them to the world, peradventure it may be instrumental in removing the 
doubtii of some sceptics concerning the existence of spirits, their power to act upon material 
substances, and communicate with the inhabitants of earth.' 

" When the writing was concluded we requested that we might be allowed to touch the 
hand. Instantly it passed to the head of the circle, and there commencing, passed around 
and shook hands with us all. To our touch it was human and perfect, and that notwith- 
standing the fact that its various and long-continued movem.ents, and its total isolation 
from any material body, gave us the most indubitable proofs that it was no mortal hand. 

" We witnessed many other manifestations, the mere recoi^d of which would be far too 
long for publication. 

" We must not omit to notice, however, that when the harmonicon was played, we 
heard tones sung in excellent accord with it. There was, besides, speaking, or chanting, 
also in harmony with the instrument. The words uttered by these voices were sometimes 
hymns of praise, at others, remarks addressed to the circle. 

" The manifestations at Tipple's room are quite similar to those of Koons's, save that at 
the former we neither saw writing nor a spirit hand. 

"At Tipple's room, however, the music is all produced by spirits, and is more varied 
and interesting than at Koons's. At the latter, Mr. Koons plays on the violin at first, and 
the spirits accompany him, but at Tipple's the music is started, as well as continued, by the 
invisibles. On one occasion we were discussing a subject which involved us in much doubt 
and perplexity. We did not allude to the matter before any one but the party engaged in 
the discussion, but at the next circle we were told, through the horn, that the spirits had 
heard us, and could clear up the matter for .us, which they did immediately, and to our 
entire satisfaction. 

*' We chanced to be passing near the spirit room of Mr. Tipple one morning, when we 
were surprised to hear a female voice speaking through the horn, and we paused to listen 
to it. Mr. Tipple and one of his sons were asking questions, and receiving advice con- 
cerning earthly affairs and spirit intercourse. This female voice also gave them much in- 
formation concerning the glory and beauty of her new home. To us that private confer- 
ence was truly significant and beautiful. The husband and child had turned aside from 
family and friends to ask advice and listen to the gentle tones of the first wife and mother. 

"The spontaneity and unconcerted character of this interview not only proved the entire 
faith of the mediums in their own spiritual intercourse, but lent additional interest and faith 
to us in our dealings with them. ' We waited until the conference was ended, when, on 
entering the room, we found only Mr. Tipple and his son 

" In conclusion, we advise all who wish to witness demonstrations of spirit-power under 
circumstances that absolutely forbid the possibility of being deceived, to make a trip to 
Athens County, where they cannot fail to be convinced that spirits who once inhabited 
mortal bodies still live, and can, and do, hold intercourse with the dwellers of earth. 



"Newton E. Crittenden. 
Helen D. Richmond. 
Hannah F. M. Brown. 
Caroline S. Lewis. 
Samuel W. Treat. 



** Cleveland, October z^^ 1854." 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 319 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



WESTERN SPIRITUALISM — OHIO. 

"Yet shrink not thou, whoe'er thou art. 
For God's great purpose set apart ; 
Before whose far-discerning eyes 
The future as the present lies: 
Beyond a narrow bounded age. 
Stretches the Prophet's heritage ; 
Through Heaven's vast spaces, angel-trod. 
Through arches round the throne of God, 
, Thy audience worlds, all time shall be, 
The witness of the truth in thee." 

Whittier. 

KooNs's AND Tippie's Spirit Rooms Continued. 

It cannot be supposed that the astounding manifestations recorded in the 
last chapter could long continue without challenging the doubts of the 
sceptic, the cavillings of the suspicious, and bitter antagonism from every 
opposer of Spiritualism. In these encounters Messrs. Koons and Tippie 
became the subjects of calumny, opprobrium, and, at times, most ruinous per- 
secutions. Their houses were often assailed by mobs, their barns and 
crops destroyed by fire, their children set upon and ill-treated ; and despite 
the fact that they received no compensation, and incurred immense expense 
Avithout assigning any conceivable motive for the exercise of their medium 
powers beyond their devotion to the cause of Spiritualism, the universal re- 
port of those who did not share in their enthusiasm was that they "made cap- 
ital" out of their ruin, and " earned on a very profitable system of deception." 

Before narrating the effects of this determined antagonism upon its unfor- 
tunate though highly-gifted objects, we propose to give a few more notices of 
the unparalleled wonders that called forth this superstitious malevolence, and 
let the reader judge of the grounds on which it could find opportunity for 
exercise. 

The following account is attested by the signatures of several distinguished 
citizens from different States, and was written, amongst numerous others, at a 
period when the local journals of the East Avere busy with Messrs. Koons and 
Tippie's doings; dealing with them in that peculiar way common to "leaders 
of public opinion," when they report transactions they have never witnessed, 
pronounce a verdict upon a matter of which they know nothing, and consti- 
tute themselves judge and jurors of a case which they have never investi- 
gated. 

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE AGE OF PROGRESS. 

"Fallasburg, Kent Co., Michigan, September 2$, 1S55. 
** Editor of the Age of Progress : " 

. . . . " For the last ten days I have been on a visit to our friends Jonathan 
Koons and John Tippie, in Athens County, Ohio. I am one of many, Friend Albro, that 
has cause to say ' God bless them,' for their hospitality to the numbers who have boarded 
with them, day after day and week after week, without money and without price, to be v/it- 
nesses of some of the most convincing and astounding evidences of the immortality of the 
soul, that were ever given to a bigoted and sceptical world. It seems to me utterly im- 
possible that any one who takes up his residence with either of these families, partakes of 
their simple, yet abundant hospitality, observes their own intense faith and devotion to 
their angelic guides, their affection for and confiding trust in the spirits who surround them, 
and above all, and beyond even the inexplicable mar\'els witnessed at the circles, sees them, 
from the youngest to the oldest amongst them, in daily and hourly correspondence with 



320 HISTORY OF MODERN 

their invisible friends, living literally with the spirits, lilce mortals, and yet for one moment 
dream of their being guilty of deception, as liaving the will, even if they had the opportu- 
nity to commit a fraud in this matter 

" The following is a brief sketch of what we, the imdersigned, witnessed at Mr. Koons's 
and which, if convenient, we request you to publish with our names attaclied thereto. 
[The writer here enters into an accurate description and measurement of the spirit room, 
again proceedingas follows:] "Mr. Koons took his seat next to Mr. Cliampion, the 
celebrated medium from Nashville, Tennessee ; Mrs. Koons and Nahum, a plain country 
boy of about thirteen, sitting on the other side of him. ]Mr. Koons and Nalnnn had just 
returned from a hard day's work at a thrashing machine, and felt more disposed to go to 
bed than into the spirit room, as it was dark when they returned from tlie field." 

[In the description which follows of the spirit machine, etc., we omit all reiteration of 
previous accounts except the following:] "The two drums are fastened with copper wires 
upon wooden supporters at the top of the table. This table is intersected with copper 
vv'ires wrapped with zinc. On the upper cross wire hang some copper plates, cut in the form 
of doves, to which are susj^ended a number of small bells, which the spirits sometimes 
rmg." 

A full description here follows of the instruments, by the careful ar- 
rangements of which, all chance of deception becomes impossible, also of 
the phenomena which the party witnessed ; all of which differ so little from 
preceding accounts, that we omit them, resuming the narrative at the point 
where some variety appears in the method. 

"At times the performance on the instruments would cease, when the spirits would sing 
in time to Mr. Koons's playing on the violin. Then they would shriek out in an unearthly 
voice near the ceiling in different parts of the room. In fact we believe no liuman being 
could sit in that room with an unprejudiced mind, without being convinced of the presence 
of disembodied spirits. 

"On Sunday evening, September 2, Mr. Koons's brother having been buried that day, 
Mr. Koons, on his return from the funeral, joined his wife and some of our party in the 
spirit room. The presiding spirit, who is called ' King,' said he was engaged that evening 
and could only stay a short time, but he would give us a brief address, which he did in a 
very candid and impi^essive manner, exhorting us to live pure lives here, so as to be in- 
stantly ready as immortal spirits to enter into the society of the pure and elevated here- 
after. He suddenly threw down the trumpet with which he was speaking, and left, disap- 
pointing Ml-, and Mrs. Koons, who evidently wished for a further communication. 

"On Monday evening the spirits gave us a splendid musical entertainment, presided over 
by a spirit calling himself King No. 2, who announced that King No. i was absent. 
. . . The paper vv'hich the spirit had held was then placed directly before Mr. Champion, 
of Nashville, and we all distinctly saw it write the following — the original manuscripts of 
which we have in our possession: 

* ' To the friend from Michigan (Benj. Leavitt) : 

"' Be of good cheer ; the light is breaking forth in your benighted region. Farewell. 

King.' 

" ' To the friends from the South : 

" 'Press onwards in the cause; let your light shine, so that mental darkness will be dis- 
pelled by the approaching luminary that is rising in the firmament. King.' 

" The following are the names of the witnesses who desire to certif}' to the above state- 
ments : 

"C. Elias Stifel and J. L. Stifel, Wheeling, Virginia, 

" Andrew Platt, Wheeling, Virginia. 

" M. C. C. Church, Nashville, Tennessee. 

"PI. B. Champion, Nashville, Tennessee. 

"A. M. Clement, Ridgeway, Harden Co., Ohio, 

"Benjamin Leavitt, Fallasburgh, Michigan. 

"A. Bruce, New Orleans, Lousiania. 

"Silas Van Sickle, Berkshire, Delaware Co., Ohio. 

" Thomas Morris and wife, Millfield, Ohio. 

"Benjamin Leavitt, Secretary." 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 321 

If the reader should feel impatient at the narratives of different persons, 
all speaking of similar phenomena, we would urge that there is a special 
value in the corroborative testimony of many individuals, who report on the 
same subject from different intellectual stand-points; and besides this, let it 
be remembered that the manifestations thus strongly tested are almost unpar- 
alleled in variety and power ; and having to some extent diminished in subse- 
quent developments, require a strength of testimony which can scarcely be 
exaggerated. We shall conclude our history of the marvellous phenomena 
exhibited at Koons's and Tipple's spirit rooms, by a description from the pen 
of one of the keenest of observers, as well as the most disinterested of ad- 
vocates that the cause of Spiritualism can boast; namely, ]\Ir. Charles Par- 
tridge, of New York, whose narrative, though given in full, will amply repay 
the trouble of a careful perusal. 

SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH — NEW YORK, 1855. 

" Spirit Room of Jonathan Koons, ) 
Dover, Athens Co., Ohio. f 

"I arrived at this room Sunday evening, May 27, 1855, and without making myself 
known, the spirits tokl Mr. Koons who I was. 

"Mr. Koons and one of his sons went into the 'spirit room,' as is their custom, before 
forming the public circle, to receive such instruction from 'King,' the pi^esiding spirit, as 
he might wish to communicate. 

" There are often more persons in attendance than the room will hold, and in that case 
the spirit usually directs Mr. Koons to invite those who have come the longest distance, and 
cannot conveniently remain there, calling the names of the parties, and leaving out the 
neighbors who can easily be present on subsequent occasions. 

" At one of these preliminary interviews, 1 was in\dted in by Mr. Koons. Immediately 
on closing the door, the spirit took up the trumpet and spoke through it audibly, saying, 
'Good evening, friends,' to which we responded in like manner. The spirit then addressed 
me by name, and observed, in substance, that although they were strangers to me, I was 
not a stranger to them; that they had long been cognizant of my desires and efforts in behalf 
of Spiritualism. 

" They spoke of and to me in the most flattering terms, also of others who had been bold 
to testify to the truth of spiritual manifestations during the severer trials of its first intro- 
duction. They had watched the progress of the Telegraph, they said, with anxious solici- 
tude and eminent satisfaction, and they closed with its consecration to further uses, and a 
fervent benediction. After this, the spirit, 'King,' said he could not hold a circle that even- 
ing, as he was engaged elsewhere. \!ix. Koons expressed much regret at this announce- 
ment, and said he felt embarrassed and mortified because several persons were there who 
had come a long v^'ay — some from New York, Pennsylvania, V^irginia, Canada, and 
other distant places. The spirit said he was soriy, but he had engaged to attend a circle 
elsewhere, naming the place, a long distance away, and that he must be there in fifteen min- 
utes. JNIr. Koons would not be satisfied with any excuses, however, but insisted that he 
[' King'] had agreed to preside over the circle, and that rather than be made the instrument 
of disappointing others m the performance, he would abandon it altogether. 'King' 
seemed to be moved by these representations, and told Koons he would see what arrange- 
ments could be made. After a pause of some five minutes, during which we could get no 
replies, the trumpet was taken up, and the spirit, speaking through it, said he had deputed a 
portion of his band to attend the distant circle, and he would himself stay and preside over 
the performance of the evening, which must commence in fifteen minutes. He added that 
they would not be able to make such good music as usual, nor have their full complement of 
performers. 

" This preliminary interview sufficiently indicates the character of all succeeding ones. 

"I attended three public circles in the spirit house of Mr. Koons, and three m that of 
Mr. John Tippie. 

' ' They are about three miles apart ; the rooms and manifestations are very similar, al- 
though the electrical tables differ somewhat ui their construction. 

"The presiding spirits are called 'King,' and claim to be father and son. 

" The spirit rooms will hold about from twenty to thirty persons each ; they are often so 
full that many have to go away or remaua outside, where they can hear the music and con* 



322 HISTORY OF MODERN 

versation of the spirits perfectly well, only they have to forego being touched by spirits, 
and seeing them. The music is heard, under favorable circtmstances, for the distance of a 
mile. After the circle is formed and the light extinguished, a tremendous blow is struck 
by the drum-stick, when immediately the bass and tenor drums are beaten with preternatu- 
ral power, like calling the roll on a muster field, making a thousand echoes. The rapid and 
tremendous blows on these drums are really frightful to many persons; it is continued for 
five minutes or more, and when ended, ' King ' usually takes up the trumpet, salutes us 
with, ' Good evening, friends,' and asks what particular manifestations are desired. If 
none are specially asked for. King generally requests Mr. Koons to play on the violin, the 
spirit band accompanying him on the other instruments : upon all these the spirits perform 
very scientifically and in wonderfully quick time. They commence upon each instrument 
together in full blast, and stop as suddenly after soimding the full note in tune, showing 
that they have some more- perfect method than ours of notifying each performer of the 
very instant to start and stop. Their accuracy in this respect, as also in time, is beyond 
that of any orchestra I ever heard. 

"After the introductory piece on the instruments, the spirits sang to us. They first 
requested us to remain perfectly silent ; then we heard human voices singing, apparently in the 
distance, so as to be scarcely distinguishable ; the sounds gradually increased, each part rela- 
tively, until it appeared as if a full choir of voices were singing in our room most exquisitely. 
I tlfink I never heard such perfect harmony. Each part was admirably modulated in strict 
and exquisite tone with the others, until the whole choir constituted one sweet and fully- 
harmonized chord. There was none of that flopping, floundering, ranting, and shrieking 
which coAstitutes the staple of what is latterly called music ; harmony, rather than noise, 
constituted the Spirits' Song. So captivating was it, that the heart-strings seemed to relax 
or increase their tension in accord with this heavenly music. It seemed to me that no one 
could sit in that sanctuary and listen to sounds that more nearly reached an idea of the 
songs of angels than anything that »arth could produce, without feeling the sentiment, 
'Glory to God and good will to man' spontaneously rising in the heart and finding expres- 
sion on the lips. 

"I don't know that the spirits uttered words with their song; but articulate sentences 
were not necessary, for every tone and strain seemed pregnant with holy sentiment such as 
language would have failed to convey. 

"After this vocal piece, the spirits played several times on the instruments performing 
much more quickly than mortals usually do, and in most perfect time throughout. If any in- 
strument got out of tune they tuned it instantly and most skilfully. Spirits seem to recon- 
struct their physical bodies, or at least a portion of them, temporarily, from elements appar- 
ently similar to those which constitute ours. Spirit hands and arms were formed in our pres- 
ence several times, and by aid of a solution of phosphorus, prepared at their request by jMr. 
Koons, they were seen as distinctly as in a light room. 

" At one of the circles I attended, three hands could be seen at once steeped in the phos- 
phorus, and highly luminous. They were passing swiftly around the room, carrying and play- 
ing on the instruments, and were frequently brought so near our faces that their motior. 
fanned us with the cool air. At our request the spirits would place the instruments on our 
laps, shoulders, and heads, so that we could feel the vibration wliilst they were being played. 

" I held up my hands and requested them to beat time on them with the tambourine. 
They did so, giving me more than I asked for by striking gently my knees and head as well 
as my hands, as I had seen done by the best tambourine players of the minstrel bands in 
New York. The time and rapidity of their performance was truly surprising. Spirit Iiands 
with phosphorus on them were exhibited to us, opened and shut, and in various ways, posi- 
tions, and places that no mortal hands could occupy. 1 took a pamphlet from my pocket, 
and asked the spirit to place a hand over it so that I could see to read by it. This was 
instantly done, when I perceived I held the paper upside down. I turned and read it by the 
light of the hand, which, together with a part of aii arm was distinctly visible to the whole 
company. 

"The spirits then shook hands with me; also they placed their hands in mine and permit- 
ted me to examine them until I was fully satisfied. The same favor was readily gi-anted to 
others. 

" These spirit hands in all things resemble ours, except that they had a kind of tremulous 
motion, and felt cold and death-like. Presently the spirit hand took a pen and we all dis- 
tinctly saw it wiute on a paper lying on the table. The writing was executed much more 
rapidly than any I ever saw performed by a mortal hand. The paper was then given to me, 
and I still retain that writing in my possession. At the close of the session, the spirit King, 
as is his custom, took up the trumpet and gave a short lecture through it, presentmgtlie ben- 
efits in time and eternity of intercoui-se vvith spirits, exhorting us to be faithful to our oppor- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 323 

tunities, and charitable towards those who are in ignorance and error, etc., he closed an 
impressive address with a benediction, and bid us 'good-night.' 

"I am aware that these facts so much transcend the ordinary experience of mortals that 
few persons will be prepared to accept them as true on anything short of their owvi witness. 
I obtained the names and addresses of the following persons, who were present at one or 
more of the circles described above with me, and I hope they will excuse me for referring to 
them in confirmation of the statements I have made. 

Except one had the advantage of beholding and testing these man'els in person, I could 
not offer a more satisfactor- array of testimony than that of the following-named ladies and 
gentlemen: jNI. T. Butterfieid, Cleveland, Ohio; William D. Young, Covington, Indiana; 
George and David Brier, Mainsville, Indiana ; David Edgar and daughter, Mercer County, 
Pennsylvania ; S. Van Sickles, Delaware, Ohio ; S. T. Dean, Andrew Ogg, and George 
Walker and son, Amesville, Ohio; A. Johnson, Millfield; W. S. Watkins, New York; 
Thomas Morris and wife, Dover, Ohio ; Dr. George Carpenter, Athens, Ohio ; and Thomas 
White, Mount Pleasant, Ohio. Many other persons«were present, whose names I did not 
learn. 

"Charles Partridge. 

"New York." 

In closing our a.ccount of the wonderful works wrought for humanity- 
through the spirits in Athens County, Ohio, a few words of personal detail are 
due to the long-suffering and greatly-slandered human co-workers who have 
figured in this marvellous spirit drama. Something of their unrequited labor 
and unjust persecution may be gathered from a letter addressed to the editor 
of the Spiritual Telegraph by Jonathan Koons, in November, 1853, wherein 
he says : 

"From the beginning of the manifestations in my house, the most base and untruthful 
charges against myself, familv, and friends, have been made by persons to whom I have 
thrown open my house, and all the fixtures ordered by the spirits, for the fullest inspection. 
To silence these slanders the spirits, have permitted frequent changes to be made in the cir- 
cles, allowing strangers to sit by me and my son whilst the demonstrations were made. To 
all who reiterate the charges of fraud, I say, ' Prove them. Go to those who have seen and 
heard, and if you cannot take their testimony, come and see and hear for yourselves.' 

" Weary with a perpetual compliance with fresh demands, I am at length compelled to 
say no more changes will be made, and persons who simply come to detect me in the prac- 
tice of the most stupendous and impossible imposition that the world has ever dreamed of, 
are politely requested to stay away. If I could have imagined or contrived out of my own 
brain such unheard of manifestations, I have no interest in practicing them. I have never 
made a charge for u-itnessing them, and repeatedly refused compensation when offered. My 
time as well as that of my family, besides money and provender, have been all freely spent, 
to gratify the public; wliilst the extraordinary communications WTitten by spirits, though so 
highly prized by ourselves, have been as freely given away, sometimes, I fear, only to grat- 
ify idle curiosity, and at others, to rasponsrble men for publication. Now, what more can 
I do to satisfy the mireasonable demands of unreasonable men, unless I close the manifesta- 
tions against them altogether? The spirits make the demonstrations in their own time and 
way. if they prefer or require darkness, I cannot help it. If they permit light, I always 
yield to it. Ail I insist upon is that neither I nor mine have any hand in doing these 
things ; that I have never made anything by it, but heavy losses, and never expect to be 
compensated in this life, beyond the untold satisfaction of proving to myself as well as to 
others, who, like me, were doubters, that the soul lives after death. To myself and my 
family, these demonstrations have been a source of delight, instruction, and pleasure. They 
have been the same to many hundreds of earnest seekers for truth. Those who are simply 
seeking for falsehood, generally end m believing it, whatever they see. Such persons, 
having predetermined our guilt, could hardly be con\dnced to the contrary by any amount 
of testimony. I am worn out with the insolence of sceptics who simply come to insult me ; 
with people demanding the same things over and over again, and still never satisfied. . . 
. . . The mediums of my family have sat up night after night, sacrificing health, rest, and 
comfort, to satisfy otliers. Now, who can say that I fear investigation, or have aught to 
gain by fraud? Let the history of the pa.^t two years be searched for one single evidence 
against me. My house has l^een examined from top to bottom, and the only thing that was 
ever found concealed in it was two young, unfledged birds, which one of my boys, boy-like, 
had got out of a nest, intending to rear. Not approving of the act of robbing a nest, I 



324 HISTORY OF MODERN 

wrung off the heads of the birds in the presence of certain individuals who constituted them, 
selves a committee to search my house. When, after the very next circle, they went av.-ay, 

and charged the demonstrations on the dead birds ! True, 1 have refused 

to submit to ridiculous experiments proposed by men who were totally ignorant of tlie prin- 
cijiles involved, and wholly incompetent to devise tests. On tlie other hand, I have sub- 
mitted to hundreds of tests, devised by candid and competent jDersons, and the results, as 
published over and over again, have proved an agency totally beyond the power of human 
action in any shape. 

"Jonathan Koons." 
"Athens Co., Ohio, 1853." 

To the above statement we must add, that after devoting time and means 
during several years to these demonstrations, Messrs. Koons and Tippie 
found that the peace of their once tranquil homes, the education of their 
children, and their worldly prosperity, were in danger of utter ruin. Their un- 
selfish devotion to what they deemed the best interests of humanity were re- 
warded by slander and persecution, until human resources were utterly ex- 
hausted. 

Some change, then, was imperatively demanded ; and still unwilling to 
sacrifice their splendid gifts to sordid necessity, they were induced to organ- 
ize travelling parties for the purpose of giving the manifestations a wider field 
of action. Whether the mediums missed the influence of their highly-charged 
spirit rooms, and the strong electrical current of their pine forests and ancient 
hills, or whether the public interest had waned by familiarity with these mar- 
vels, cannot be correctly determined. Certain it is that though very power- 
ful evidences of spirit presence still followed them in their missionary wan- 
derings, they were no longer regarded as the marvellous and exceptional me- 
diums they were once deemed. Others entered rival claims for public favor, 
and the Koons and Tippie families seemed somehow to glide out of the 
page of supersensuous celebrity. A lapse of time — a hiatus in their history 
— the bitter woof of that destiny which enfolds all reformers in an unpopular 
cause, closing around them its tightly-strained cords of persecution and slan- 
der, and then, a few fragmentary lines from scenes far removed and widely 
different from their once prosperous home amongst the Ohio hills, is all that 
the page of history further records of them. More in the tone of " memo- 
riam," than as veritable biography, reads the simple epistle of the once won- 
derful head of the Koons family, writing in 1859, to the editor of the Spirit- 
ual Telegraph from parts almost unknown. 

" LETTER FROM JONATHAN KOONS.— SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH. 

" Moore's Prairie, Jefferson Co., Illinois, June 15, 1859. 

*'Mr. Charles Partridge, — Your kind favor of five numbers of the Telegraph, and 
an accompanying letter, were duly received, and I proceed without delay to answer the 
queries contained in your letter. 

" First, as to my present state of faith and knowledge in Spiritualism ? My faith is firm 
as the granite pillar of Pike's Peak, and my knowledge in Spiritualism more precious to me 
than all the virgin gold it contains beneath its eternal snow-capped summit. High and lofty 
as this, theological mountains may also lift their frozen and unprolific summits to the sky, 
but they can never again shut out those genial beams of spiritual sunshine with which I 
am experimentally blessed. 

" My knowledge relating to this subject is voluminous, but an exposition of it would seem 
almost as preposterous to the world as would an attempt to introduce tropical fruit into 
the arctic regions. .... 

"John Tippie has removed to Lynn County, Kansas Territory. They continued to hold 
spirit intercourse up to my last account from them. I will remark that the seeds of Spiritu- 
alism are already sown in this so-called Egyptian land Southern Illinois. In an adjoin- 
ing neighborhood, at the residence of Mr. Wilkey, regular circles have been held, amongst 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 325 

the members of which were some promising mediums for trance speaking, wi'iting, and physi- 
cal demonstrations. A venerable old clerg^mian here — Mr. M. — a man of rare talent and 
education, has openly avowed his belief in Spiritualism, to the astonishment and mortifica- 
tion of his followers and brothers in the cause, of which he was for forty years a prominent 
teacher and advocate. 

Curing a recent illness of a very severe character, several of his clerical bretliren paid this 
worthy gentleman visits, for the purpose of attempting to convince him ' of the lamentable 
errors into which he had fallen under Satanic influence.' These visits had a singular result; 
for the more orthodox their efforts became, the more powerful and convincing became the 
counter arguments of Mr. M. — until some of his listeners were moved to tears, and actually 
begged pardon for their intrusion. Some left liim then deeming him little less than a saint, 
whilst otliers quitted, denoimcing him as an infidel, heretic, and lost soul, 'under the 
delusive influence of Satan.' 

" The Christian Church at Spring Garden has been offered him, for a course of lectures on 
the subject of Spiritualism, explanatory of the views which have led him to his present be- 
lief. This offer we trust will be accepted as soon as his health permits. 

" We have not been in a position to hold public circles since our removal from Ohio 
last fall. Recently, however, we have become hungry for spiritual nourishment, which has led 
us to a renewed effort to 'receive manifestations. At a recent circle held by my own family 
and L. T. Dean, of Ohio, we had a most consoling interview with the spirits, and a genuine 
correspondence through the trumpet. 

" This effort has since been repeated with ^qual success. We have been continually 
solicited to hold circles for the benefit of investigators, but as yet, our present circumstances 
have induced us to decline. At Salem, Illinois, I opened my library of spiritual books and 
left them in the care of Mr. E. Williams, for public inspection and perusal during last win- 
ter. Mr. Williams informs me that the spiritual books have been constantly kept warm in 
the hands of as many as they would serve, which has resulted in an immense interest on the 
subject. There are quite a number of sound and able minds amongst us who express a 
great desire to become acquainted with the facts and philosophy of Spiritualism, and the 
best we can do for them at i^resent is to give them a catalogue of your valuable works and 
distribute the Telegraph for perusal. 

" Fraternally yours, 

"Jonathan Koons." 

Another testimony to the unswerving faith of these honest and devoted men 
is to be found in an earUer issue of the Spiritual Telegraphy in which an 
esteemed correspondent undertakes to give some account of the spirit rooms 
of the Hon., Charles Cathcart, an estabhshment which in some sense suc- 
ceeded, tirough it did not take the place of the famous Ohio circle. The allu- 
sions to Koons and Tippie, though slight and incidental, will be read with 
interest by those who have thus far followed the narrative of their faithful 
service in the cause of Spiritualism. They occur in the following communi- 
cation. 

" SPIRIT ROOINIS AT THE WEST. 

"Laporte, Indiana, February 2,6, 1859. 

" Brother Partridge, — As it may be interesting to your readers to learn something 
about what the spirit rooms in the West are doing, I will give you a few lines on that sub- 
ject. 

" I have not forgotten the glorious times that you and I enjoyed at Koons's, some four 
years ago ; but oh ! the contrast between what we then witnessed and the best that we 
can do now ! It reminds me of the Jewish fathers who mourned and wept at the dedica- 
tion of the new temple, when they reinembered how far it fell short of the glory of its pre- 
decessor. I have attended three circles here; one at Charles Cathcart' s, the others at D. 
C. McKellip's. We had good music at them all, but no speaking tlii"ough the trumpet, 
no moral or philosophical lectures from ancient high and holy spirits, nor had we any sweet 
spirit singing, shaking of their hands, or answering questions except by raps. How gi^eat 
tlie contrast ! It brought a melancholy shade over my mind when I remembered those glori- 
ous Ohio circles. But far as these fall short of the manifestations at Koons's and Tipple's 
rooms, they give great satisfaction to a large number of persons who never had the privilege 
of witnessing the performances in those rooms, and are not devoid of mterest to many 



326 HISTORY OF MODERN 

who have seen those splendid manifestations. Besides this, they are doing a vast ceal o 
good. There are many minds which can be reached by no other process, yet I rep-ret that 
I Imow but one trumpet medium in the West at present, and he has gone with his father, 
John Tippie, to Pike's Peak. I received a letter from Mr. Tippie recently, informing ma 
that King was with them ; that they were all on their way to the Peak, and that they "kept 
up their circles and obtained a great deal of useful information thereby. We are informed 
that Koons's trumpet medium has lost his power, and is no longer a medium for any spiritual 
influences. This fact is pretty good evidence of his honesty, for if ever he did peform with- 
out the aid of spirits, he could and most likely would continue to do so; but he is not even 
favored with raps, tips, or an)/ ither tokens of spiritual presence. Yet he is too honest to 
renounce his belief as some others have done who were once mediums, or thought themselves 
so. There are many who have been developed, or j^artially so, whose houses are being left 
unto them desolate in consequence of their neglect and disobedience to the counsel of wise 

spirits In my travels, I have found the cause of SpirituaH^m everj'where in 

the ascendant My old infidel associates and correspondents have all, for the 

most part, long since embraced Spiritualism, and I rejoice to say that they are all the Ijetter 
for it. I am also happy to know that there are thousands who, until recently, were strongly 
opposed to the belief, who are now beginning to investigate, and amongst these are many 
preachers of different denominations, and class leaders not a few. 

"I must relate an occurrence that recently took place at Mr. Cathcart's spirit room. He 
had invited several preachers to comeand pray away the Devil, if they thought it was that per- 
sonage who was speaking. At length one of them concluded to take Charley at his word 
and came on accordingly. It was agreed that if the spirits failed to respond at the close of 
the prayer, and continue their manifestations after the ministers' exorcisms, etc., that it 
should be considered as evidence of their being beaten, but if his spiritual powers had no 
effect in conquering 'the spirits,' they were to be allowed as having the best of it. With 
this understanding the preacher set to work, and in order to give him fair play, even Charley 
[Mr. Cathcart], as requested, joined in the prayers, and went down on his marrow-ljones, 
perhaps for the first time in his life. But no sooner had the word ' Amen ' passed the 
preacher's lips, testifying that his spiritual invocations were concluded, t'lan the spirits let 
them know they were not routed yet. Such raps, knocking around, rattling of drums, and 
disturbances generally, of everything in and about the room, never took place before. 

" The preacher honorably stood to his engagement, acknowledged that ' the spirits' had the 
best of it, and that he had misjudged them. This announcement he made openly to his 

congregation, to the great satisfaction of some and the nrdignation of others 

TijDpie informs me that he sold out and left Ohio in compliance with King's directions, and 
that he intends to follow his advice, let the result be as it may. 

' ' Yours, most truly, , 

"Thomas White." 

We have had occasion to notice the accounts which the spirits operating at 
Koons's room gave of themselves, namely, that they belonged to "a most 
ancient order of men;" also, that from time to time, other spirit communi- 
cated, of different classes and dates of human existence, amongst them, 
spirits whose recent entrance into the spheres with gross, undeveloped natures, 
fornaed corporal conditions for the performance of the strongest physical 
manifestations, while the use to which their services were devoted, served as 
means for their own progression. In confirmation of the claim to extreme 
antiquity, and highly exalted spiritual nature, which the controlling influence 
at Koons's alleged, several singular and interestingpsychometrical dehneations 
of the writings executed by the spirit hands could be cited. Our space only 
allows us to record one example of this kind, Avhich affords a psychometrical 
reading of the famous original " King." It was given through one of the most 
reliable and highly developed mediums of her time, Mrs. Kellog, of New 
York. We quote the account as we find it in the Telegraph papers of 1856. 
It reads as follows : 

"We have often had occasion to observe that 'psychometiy,' or the reading of character 
by touch, might be of service in enabling us to determine the identity no less than the 
origin of written communications, purporting to emanate from departed spirits. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 327 

*' On several occasions we have subjected such -writings to trial by this method, and havs 
always witnessed very interesting results. We \vill briefly narrate the particulars of an ex- 
periment of this kind, made by Hon. Joshua R. Giddings. One day last week, m company 
with Mr. .Giddings, Stephen Dudley, Esq., and iVIiss Jay, the celebrated trance speaker, wc" 
called on Mrs. Kellog at her circle rooms, 625 Broadway. The gentlemen accompanying me, 
had in their possession a piece of writing executed in the spiiit room of Jonathan Koons, 
executed under circumstances which left them no room to doubt but that it was the work of a 
spirit. In fact, on this point they were entirely convinced ; for they, like the rest of tlie 
company present, saw and felt the spirit hand which executed the writing. It was higlrly 
illuminated, and displayed a portion of a bare arm, the termination of which was lost in a 
sort of luminous vapor. This hand was frequently opened and shut, and exhibited in various 
ways during the writing, and at its close placed the paper in the hand of Mr. Dudley, linger- 
ing in his clasp and affording liim full opportunity of examining it thoroughly. The writing 
was executed with a rapidity beyond the utmost capacity of man; it was signed 'King,' and 
tlie writer, speaking through the trumpet, claimed to have lived on the earth above ten thou- 
sand years ago. The paper was inclosed by Mr. Dudley in a blank envelope, and carefully 
sealed by Mr. Giddings, and when presented to Mrs. Kellog and Miss Jay, not the slightest 
hint was dropped by which they could have imagined what the envelope contained, or whence 
it emanated. Not a single remark was made by which the writer even could guess why 
those gentlemen inquired about it. Mrs. Kellog, taking the envelope in her hand, became 
suddenly deeply entranced, and pointing upward, spoke as follows: 

" ' A person of great might and power appears before me — a power unknown. I cannot 
compare him to any one on earth. He wields a mighty weapon. I can neither describe 
nor explain the influence that emanates from him. I can only compare it to one of whom 
we read in the Bible. It seems like unto one who " rules the world." It [the writing] does 
not seem to have been done by any human being. It does not seem to me that a mortal 
could have been employed even as the instrument for this writing. This is beyond human 
effort. 

" 'I behold a sea of light extending everywhere, a never-fading light. It is not of the sun, 
or moon, or stars; oh, that I had the power to describe it ! I must call it a divine light. It 

will never grow dim. I see no limit, but only an immensity of liglrt It seems 

to me as if this writing fell from Heaven, untouched by mortal hands. I wonder at my 
ability to hold the paper. The sun fades beside this light. Man must shrink beneath its 
influence. The source appears like light, creating light. I cannot give it human form. I 
can conceive of such a form, but it is all light.' Here Miss Jay was en- 
tranced and said : 

'"Yes, it has a human form, but developed to gigantic proportions. The outlines are 

lost to the vision m the intensity of light Every feature seems v/oven of 

burning sunbeams. Ordinary beings cannot attract material atoms from the earth sphere, 
so as to render visible so much as a hand like this one's. It must be a power so far exalted 
in the scale of development as to grasp the great laws that govern all material combina- 
tions He does not seem to be of the earth, but to belong to another race 

of beings, whose spiritual growth has continued for ages. As perpetual material transfor- 
mations ultimate in the refinement of the elements, so has this spirit been refined, until all its 
tissues and fibres seem to be woven of the finest rays of divine light. Could you but gaze 
on that being in all his transcendent beauty, you would value life as never before, and be 
quickened and strengthened to go forward in your own pathway of eternal progres- 
sion." 

We shall now insert a specimen of the communications written directly by 
the hands of spirits themselves, sometimes in the presence of witnesses, at 
others in the locked, sealed, and guarded spirit room, without any visible 
mediumistic agency. The following was obtained from du'ect writing exe- 
cuted by a spirit hand in the presence of many witnesses. It is headed — 



"GENERAL ADDRESS OF KING, SERVANT AND SCHOLAR OF GOD. 

"The spirit of one who makes himself known by the name of 'King,' Servant and 
Scholar of God, desires to make his general address in the presence of Jonathan Koons, 
his family, and others ; which persons I have selected in consequence of the pure clairvoyant 
power which exists among them, and other magnetic qualities, whereby spirits are enabled 



328 HISTORY OF MODERN 

to speak and -wT'Ite sentiments which are in this mode not liable to be distorted by bias, oi 
misrepresented by ignorance. And in consequence of the anxiousdesire manifested by those 
people to receive spiritual truths do we come amongst them ; yet we know that our work will 
be rejected by many, and condemned as the production of their King Devil, whom they 
profess to repudiate, but do so constantly serve by crucifying truth, and rejecting all that is 

contrary to their own narrow pride and vain imaginings Truly we do not 

flatter ourselves with the idea of a v.'clcome from minds of this class, or from any who are 
bigoted to their own opinions; nor do we seek to accommodate our speech to the prejudices 
of man, as we fear is the case with many of the manifesting spirits of tliis day. Eut strange 
as the form of human speech is to us now, and bounded as is the thought of angels in its 
narrow confines, yet as far as words can serve, am I bound to speak of that divine truth I 
know, for its influences reach me like a flaming fire streaming from the celestial realms of the 
Most High, and pours in consuming justice over the earth, winnowing the chaff of falsehood 
from the grains of truth, until the uttermost parts of the earth shall be fed with the bread 

of eternal life Many there are who so firmly engrave the image of Satan 

on their hearts tlrat they see only his reflection when they look abroad, or behold in the 
faces of others the picture mirrored, which they themselves have di^awn ; and sucl), I full 
well know, will thus regard my coming. The bigot will have none of me, because I liave 
said, in opposition to his narrow creed, that I am of a race of men who lived before their 
fabled Adam ; and because I claim a still more ancient state than their ignorance can master. 
I must be false, or else, 'a spirit of evil.' If I would tear the mask of ignorance from hee 
eyes of men, and show them truths long hid in darkness or veiled by superstition ; if I dar- 
disturb their fabled thoughts of God, and how he wrought in the days when men were un- 
acquainted with the means to record theirlife and times, and hand them do'S'iTi to posterit}', • — • 
then they cry out their comprehensive Avatchword, 'Devil !' so that all which they in their 
littleness think right, they call ' the Word of God,' and label ' sacred,' and all which they do 
not know or comprehend, they call 'the work of Satan,' or the Avords of 'heathens.' . 

"With Avhat astonishment we contemplate this frail and blinded being, man ! So frail, 
and yet assuming to be so strong, that a weak, short-lived mortal presumes to call a nation 
his, and swings in his very hand the destinies of millions of his fellow-beings, seizing their 
lands, spoilmg their goods and liouses, and making laws by wliich he binds their very lives, 
until his own is rent from him in a single minute, and then the strong man becomes a clod 
of clay ! .... So blind that he cannot see the event of the next ensuing instant, 
and yet pretending to know just what God thinks, and wills, and does, and how he made 
all things, and how he is pleased or angered ; pleased with one human worm for mumbling 
out a form of words, and angered with another for eating meat upon a day when he should 
eat naught but fish : in a Avord, this poor blind atom, fain Avould claim to knoAV Avhat celes- 
tial angels, Avho presided at his planet's birth, would \-eil their heads in deep humility ere 
pretend to understand. And thus man sits in his darkened cell of ignorance, AATapped.in the 
antique rags his ancestors have woven, and thinks he's Avalking in the light of celestial rev- 
elation. Groping himself in blindness, he pretends to point to others the only path to 

Heaven Living amongst dead men's bones, he says ' there is no spirit,' and 

pretends to gather from the ashes of corruption, the daily bread, meet for the living soul. 
He looks to earth for hea\'en ; to matter to discover spirit ; to a dead and buried past, to 
steer his bark through present ills, or guide it to future havens. He makes himself a 
king, and then parcels out God's heritage to his fellow-men, as if the earth Avere h.is, in- 
stead of being stolen from God. He makes himself a priest, and then pretends to sell out 
passports to God's heavenly kingdom. He takes aAvay the patariarch's ladder on Avhich 
angelic feet descend, and then sets up one of his OAvn building, made out of ancient myths 

and modern mysteries, and invites men to ascend it, Avithout angelic aid 

Tiiink you, then, to such a Avorld as this I have hope to cry and yet be heard and heeded ? 

"I tell you nay ; and yet the spirit strives with men ; and, if perchance some stray and 
wandering sheep should hear our voice, and gather to the fold of spiritual truth, our Avork 
Avill not be vain ; and freighted Avith that single soul, Ave may return to our heavenly 
Master, and say, ' Our work is done.' " .... 

Such are the highly-strained and mystical phrases in which this singtilar 
spirit influence from time to time was manifested. Much more to the same 
purpose is given, most of it in a still more obscure mixture of biblical and oc- 
casionally scientific imagery. Sometimes the language is so indefinite and 
strained as to be Avholly incomprehensible, but occasional glimmerings of 
high scientific truths, electrical theories of great value, geological and 



AMERICAN SPIRITULISM 329 

astronomical references of significant import, prove that the ideas of the 
communicating inteUigence, only needed a comprehensive control over 
human language to embody revelations of profound interest and instruction. 

The spirits generally seemed to intimate that there were hosts of beings 
ready to commune with men, who — withheld by the bigotry and narrow 
prejudice which they foresaw — Avould inevitably reject them, unless their 
revelations squared with men's preconceived opinions. These communica- 
tions were for the most part signed "King," mth the addition, at times, of 
" Servant and Scholar of God." 

Besides the writings received at Koons's spirit room, other spiritual com- 
munications constantly represent that human language is a most iinperfect 
vehicle for the transmission of spiritual ideas ; that many spirits, after a long 
residence in the spheres and the habit of interchanging thoughts through more 
perfect methods than speech, lose their facility of expression in human Ian 
guage ; also that the magnetism of the eardily medium shapes and limits the 
thought transmitted tlirough it, even where, as in the case of du-ect spirit 
writing, no exercise of the human faculties is called into play. 

A communicating spmt once declared that the earthly aura that 
spirits used to inculcate their manifestations in material forms, was so 
thoroughly imbued with the individuality from whence it emanated, that 
every spiritual production received by mortals would be inevitably shaped to 
the form of the organism, and the tone of the medium's mjnd. If'this philos- 
ophy be applicable to all phenomena, it may account for the fact that though 
the intelligence revealed through the Koons and Tippie mediums, in many 
respects transcended their mental capacities, and the ideas projected v/ere 
certainly not original with them, nevertheless the modes of expression v/ere 
confused, illogical, and strangely tinctured with the mannerisms of the sources 
from whence the magnetic aura was derived ; hence the thoughtful investiga- 
tor might do well to repress the sneer, or check the smile which the ill-con- 
structed sentences of " the most ancient spirits" might provoke by remem- 
bering that the above explanation accounts for the fomi which the revela- 
tions assume. In Dr. Everett's pamphlet, which claims to be a veritable 
transcript of the communications received, either through direct writing or 
the trumpet voice, from the spirits themselves, are several chapters on "the 
mission of angels in giving the first divine records to man," " on the refin- 
ing laws of God," " on the Creation," Heaven, man, eletricity, magnetism, 
etc. ; but the specimen we have already given, furnished by a visitor to 
Koons's spirit room from a paper written by a spirit hand, will suffice as an 
example of the whole series. JMany of the ideas contained in these writings 
however, are worthy of philosophical consideration. 

The opinion of geologists concerning the extreme antiquity of the race, 
and the gradual growth and development of the planet, are broadly 
insisted upon. The claim of a universal and never-ceasing communion be- 
tween the spiritual and natural worlds is alleged. Creeds and sects are ex- 
cised \Aatli no sparing hand, and the doctrine of God's providence, and uni- 
versal progress form the constant themes of their teachings. Some attempts 
were made to define the principles of eletricity and vital magnetism, but the 
methods of communication seemed to be too much trammelled to permit of 
lucid description. 

We shall close our account of these wonderful phenomena by presenting a 
diagram of the spheres, as drawn tlirough the hand of Nahum Koons in the 
trance condition, and explained in direct crating by the spirits, who claim to 
have been the controllino; influence in the work. Nahuiii Koons was a lad 



330 HISTORY OF MODERN 

of about fifteen years of age, simple, truthful, and a fine clairvoyant, but en 
tirely incapable, in his normal state, of originating or even conceiving of the 
ideas suggested by the diagram. He was frequently taken spiritually 
through the spheres, and his descriptions, though deficient in lingual precision, 
are full of sublime imagery and ideal beauty. The explanation which ac- 
companied the annexed diagram is condensed from the spirit's higlily-elabor- 
ated phraseology. 

"The region inclosed within H T, numbered from i to 7, represents 
the spheres. These terminate at a celestial region called the Star of Light 
and Beauty, G. The central region, O, is the ancient pit or hell, the 
place of " second death," elaborately described by the spirit as the lowest 
and darkest sphere of probation, but by no means a final state ; indeed, the 
whole spiritual theory of a future life emphatically denies any finality, but 
teaches eternal and ever ascending scales of progress, whose conditions are 
wholly dependent on the moral refinement and elevation of the pilgrim souls 
that tread them. Progress from this central region, O, through all success- 
ive spheres marked outward to 7, is effected by changes somewhat analo- 
gous to mortal dissolution, though without pain or sorrow, but rather as be- 
ing ascensions in high moral and spiritual development, passages marked by 
triumphant and glorious states of angelic happiness. 

The region called the Star of Light and Beauty is typically described as 
'' beneath the Throne of God." It signifies the vast celestial realms of un- 
known and perhaps illimitable extent, filled with t he subtler fiuijL " the impen- 
etrable," the inconceivable, the source, fountain, and centre of all light, 
heat, life, force, gravitation and attraction ; in a word, the central sun of 
being, the profound mystery, which is summed up in the grand solvent name 
of God. The region C, fancifully marked with a cross and arrows of light, 
signifies the realms of earth's risen martyrs, saviours, and exalted ones called 
" Christ." This is the sphere which, divided into many realms, is termed 
" Heaven," and is peopled with angelic hosts, divided into " thrones, domin- 
ions, powers," etc. Here ultimately ascend all those who have " overcome 
the world." D is the great living sun, supposed to correspond to the apex 
of the great spiritual sun beneath. It is a material centre and source, 
v/hence issue forth the rays of material light, which radiate through suns, 
planets, systems, and all material bodies in space, and is the carrier or ma- 
terial form, which conveys the more sublimated ray's of the great sp]ritual 
sun; it is Bignified by the rays and suns at E, K, L, and M. The semi- 
circle between P and N represents a focalized zone of celestial light emana- 
ting from the spiritual sun, and generating the physical central material sun 
of the universe, which thus becomes a combination of etherealized and 
materialized elements, from which the life-centres of spirit and matter flow 
out. 

A vast amount of glowing and somewhat incomprehensible writing accom- 
panies this chart ; but the main ideas are embodied, as well as the occult na- 
ture of the subject will permit, in the words given above. The sum of all 
seems to be, an attempt to impress upon the mind the idea of infinite progi-es- 
sion in time and eternity. Graduated spheres of happiness and exaltation 
for the souls of humanity ; a grand central spiritual sun, and a corresponden- 
tial material luminary \ each mystically related on the consociative principles 
of soul and body, and both centralizing all the forces of being, and sending 
out in radiative streams, eternal life through firmaments thickly sown with 
worlds, surrounded, like earth, with their spirit spheres ; and all sustained 
and u^Dheld in the gravitating arms of the illimitable and eternal sun of fife, 



332 HISTORY OF MODERN 

whom we vaguely worship as " God." A few question have, 

from time to time, risen in connection with the history of mediums, the phe- 
nomena of mediumship, and their special relation to the spirits who guide and 
control them; and it seems to be in order to close our present description by 
a reiteration of, and response to, some of those oft-repeated questions. 

Premising that the manifestations to which we have referred as transpiring in 
the spirit rooms of Koons and Tippie, are special, and remarkable for clear- 
ness and force, it is asked, Why do they come no more in such a form ? Are 
they passing away or diminishing in excellence ? And if so highly instructive 
and useful as we have represented them, why are they not continued with 
even increasing force and beauty ? To these queries we answer generally : 
These phenomena were evolved at that particular period when, in the incip- 
iency of the movement, their use was most manifest and essential. They 
cease to some extent with the cessation of the conditions of their production, 
which were fervent zeal, devotion, earnest singleness of purpose, and lavish 
expenditure of time and means. 

Messrs. Koons and Tippie furnished all these in abundance until the de- 
mands of material life became too urgent and imperative for the spiritual 
to withstand. 

These faithful workers expended thousands of dollars, and incurred a loss 
of time, property, and position that at length culminated in financial burdens 
impossible to be borne longer. It can scarcely be doubted that with pre- 
cisely similar conditions, similar manifestations might again be received, 
but it must be remembered that besides the elements of success already enu- 
merated, the presence of a large family of highly-mediumistic children, and 
the electrical nature of the locality where the circles were held, must be taken 
into account. Again, it has been asked, " Why the spirits who controlled the 
Koons family were ungrateful enough to desert their mediums after years of 
faithful service ? " and " Why they could not have maintained them in suffi- 
cient prosperity to render the continuance of their valuable services possible ? " 
Once more we answer : the spirits use the means they find, but cannot create 
them. As children, the Koons and Tippie families furnished an amount of 
mediumistic aura which ceased to flow out in the same proportions as they 
attained the age of adolescence. The conditions ended, the spirits could do 
no more. They did not desert their mediums, but simply ceased to pour 
v/ater from the fountain when the source became dry. Again, it has been 
alleged that Jonathan Koons entailed distress and embarrassment on his fam- 
ily by his "insane devotion to the cause," and the ill-requited sacrifices he 
made for Spiritualism have been cited by his pious neighbors, to prove that 
" Satan is a bad paymaster after all ; luring his victims on by temporary suc- 
cesses, to ultimate ruin and disgrace." Answer : Jonathan Koons is not 
the first and will not be the last man, who, in a good cause, has pushed devo- 
tion beyond the bounds of worldly prudence. This he did, too, without any 
promise on the part of his spiritual allies that they would or could compen- 
sate him in a worldly point of view. The spirits never promise their mediums 
wealth or worldly distinction — simply spiritual light and mental unfoklment ; 
and in these directions they have always kept their word ; and to the testi- 
mony of Jonathan Koons, given above from Southern Illinois, can be added 
that of thousands of others, that, if, in the conduct of an unpopular cause, the 
thorns of martyrdom must inevitably pierce the reformer's feet, the blossoms 
that spring up out of them are worth all the pain endured. 

The cross of human suffering is ever surmounted by the crown of divine 
blessing. If the figures in tlfis brief drama of marvel and mystery pass from 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM, ZZl 

the scene, wi-apped in the gray mists of adversity, is that any argument against 
a belief or practice which has brought the knowledge of life, light, and im- 
mortality, to themselves as well as to thousands of others ? On this basis, 
the memory of all earth's martyrs, of all who have bled, burned, or suftered 
for the truth, might be held accursed ; and Christianity, itself, be deemed the 
work of "Satan," because its propagation led its founder to the death of a 
malefactor, and its followers to martyrdom. 

The tears of unmerited anguish water the Divine seeds which, though hid- 
den for a while in the darkness of rudimental growth, are destined ultimately 
to change the barren earth into the fruitful Eden. We know not if ever the 
amaranth blossoms of immortal glory grow out of any other soil than the 
blood-stained and tear-watered footprints of martyrdom ; and if poor old Jon- 
athan Koons has lost much of material wealth, name, fame, and prosperity, 
in his search, he, like every true Spiritualist, has found the "pearl of great 
price," for whose possession he could afford to exchange the whole world. 



CHAPTER XXXIL 



western spiritualism continued — indiana 

cathcart's spirit room. 

"I'll look for other aid : Spirits they say 
Flit round in\'isib!e, as thick as motes 
Dance in the sunbeam. If that spell 
Ornecromancer's circle can compel them. 
They shall hold council with me." 

Duff. 

Origin of the Poston Circle — Charles W. Cathcart and "Baalam's Ass"— 
The Lamplighter — The Amazon — The Convert and his Work — "King" 
IN Indiana — Mr. Cathcart's Challenge — Description of the Manifes- 
tations — Summing up Evidence. 

It has been frequently alleged by the intelligences which held control at 
Kuons's spirit room, that similar manifestations could be obtained in any 
gathering of harmonious persons, who would patiently sit for development 
under precisely similar conditions. 

The truth of this statement has been verified, in part, by several experi- 
ments, the success of which has only been marred by lack of proper observ- 
ance on the part of the investigators. One of the most widely celebrated 
and successful efforts to repeat the Athens County phenomena, transpired 
near Laporte, Indiana, in a district situated on the stage route between Laporte 
and Westville, in what has been familiarly known as the " Poston Circle." 
In the place above named "spirit rooms" were established, and seances con- 
ducted, under circumstances the most favorable that could be devised, for 
placing the manifestations beyond the shadow of suspicion or the possibility 
of collusion. 

Without entering into a minute description of demonstrations, which in 
nearly every particular resembled those of the Koons family, excepting that 
they were inferior in power and variety, we call attention to the circum- 
stances attending the origin and conduct of the seances^ as they are calculated 
to afford valuable suggestions to future investigators. 



334 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Mr. Poston, of Ohio, having visited Koons's anclTippie's " spirit rooms," 
was promised by the spirits that similar manifestations should be produced in 
his own family, under certain given conditions. Soon after this, he rented a 
farm on the estate of Mr. Davis, a wealthy landowner in Laporte County, 
Irxiiana, who had also visited the Athens County circles, and according to the 
direction of "King," had built a "spirit room" on the same plan as Koons 
and Tippie's. 

When the Postons rented Mr. Davis's farm, they commenced holding cir- 
cles in his new "spirit room," and soon began to receive very powerful 
manifestations therein. It was found that Miss Poston, the eldest daughter 
of the family, was the medium of these demonstrations, which continued to 
gain in force and variety until the whole neighborhood was attracted to the 
circles, and their fame bid fair to outrival their celebrated models in Ohio. 

Amongst the visitors to Davis's "spirit room" was the Hon. Charles 
Cathcart, an ex-Congressman, and a gentleman of great wealth, learning, and 
high social standing in Indiana. Mr. Cathcart was the proprietor of a splen- 
did estate not far distant from the Poston farm, hence he was enabled to 
attend their spirit circles at his leisure, had he desired it ; but having been for 
many years a profound student in the natural sciences, and moreover of a 
decidedly sceptical turn of mind upon all subjects relating to spiritual exist- 
ence, he felt little or no interest in a renewal of his first visit, and utterly 
disregarded all the marvellous stories that were bruited about concerning the 
" spirit room," until he saw his own children amusing themselves by pretend- 
to hold circles, at which they insisted that invisible operators were present. 

By v/ay of dispelling any " superstitious folly" that they might have imbibed 
through the reports of others, Mr. Cathcart determined to join his young peo- 
ple in \h.f^Xv seances, and show them "on philosophical principles" the absurd- 
ity of attributing to a supernatural cause, what he knew originated in self- 
delusion, or purely mundane forces. 

Being, as stated above, a scientist of a high order, and conceiving that there 
were still many problems in electricity, etc., which were unsolved, but which 
might connect themselves with unaccountable phenomena, he placed upon a 
very heavy table with drawers full of books, three glass tumblers, and over 
these a board, which he presumed would be insulated by its glass supports. 
Feeling as little respect for what he called "the fables of orthodoxy" as he 
did for " the legends of Spiritualism," and desiring to place both in the most 
ridiculous possible light before his children, Mr. Cathcart requested his eld- 
est son to play, according to the Koons formulas, on the violin, "the 
Devil's Dream," being the tune which he deemed appropriate to the occa- 
sion. He then solemnly invoked Baalam to "spare him the serv'ices of his 
invaluable ass, and permit it to quit its heavenly stable for the purpose of 
helping its fellow-creatures to perform feats worthy of so exalted a coadjutor. 

Meantime the hands of the circle v/ere laid upon the board, but no sooner 
had the profane adjuration passed his lips than, to use Mr. Cathcart's o\vn 
words, "Away went the board! and if we were not surprised, let that word 

be dropped from the vocabulary We then took away the 

tumblers, resting our hands on the board, but round and round it went ; we 
put away the board, and off flew the table!" Mr. Cathcart, it seems, was 
too good a jDhilosopher to stop here. Scientist as he was, he found some- 
thing in this that upset all his preconceived theories, and he determined that 
the "ass" whom he had invoked, should not get the better of him, "for," 
he reasoned, "as long as he knov^^s something more than Charles Cathcart, 
the said Charles Cathcart is tlie greatest ass of the two." Continuing his 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 335 

scoffing tones of invocation, he experimented with his household circle, until 
the table, chairs, bureaus, and heaviest pieces of furniture would, with the 
light touch of his children's fingers, fly round, float, heave, and with the weight 
of several hundred pounds upon them, resist the force of the strongest mer 
in attempting to restrain their erratic movements. 

On one occasion, when a large table was in the midst of these eccentric 
gyrations, it suddenly stopped, and several loud raps Avere heard from the 
centre of it. Startled, yet not disconcerted, Mr. Cathcart cried out " Halloa ! 
Satan, is that you ? if so, give us three of your best raps." 

Three loud poundings rather than raps immediately followed, when ]\Ir. 
Cathcart, somewhat ashamed of the encouragement to profanity of speech 
which his words afforded to his little ones, added, " Now, old fellow, if you 
think as I do, that it's a shame for two old fools like you and I to be talking 
nonsense before the children, just give the table a parting salute, and run off 
with it." The salute that followed was emphatic enough even to startle Mr. 
Cathcart, from whose hands the table bounded off and ran coursing for seve- 
ral seconds round the room, without the contact of a single human being. 
But this remarkable phenomenon did not cease here. Mr. Cathcart had occa- 
sion to visit the Eastern States, and, whether he was himself endowed with 
medium power or that he chanced to encounter mediums wherever he went, 
cannot now be determined. 

Certain it is that not only did the furniture of his own liouse become loco- 
motive at will, but the same mysterious movements followed him in all his 
travels. He had but to invoke "Baalam's ass," as he persisted in calling 
the invisible motor, and when or wherever he would, he could set the heavi- 
est pieces of furniture in the apartment where he chanced to be, spinning in 
all directions ; in short, in his own phrase, he kindly hitched up his invisible 
"Jack" for the amusement of the company at any time, and he never failed 

To all the heavings, floatings, and poundings, Avhich thus accompanied 
him, Mr. Cathcart, good philosopher as he was, could give no explanation, 
and when hard pressed by his friends upon the subject, only replied that it 
was the aforesaid " Baalam's ass," or the dcA-il in or out of Charles Cathcart. 
As to the spiritual hypothesis, he continued resolutely to repudiate it. His 
scientific theory of possible causation it is unnecessary to repeat. He could 
not emulate the cool assurance of those who branded millions of their fellow- 
creatures as rogues, or fools, for believing the testimony of their senses, and 
the legitimate deductions which grew therefrom. He knew he was not de- 
ceiving himself in these sounds or motions, and had suflicient modesty to ac- 
knowledge there might be some things in nature even beyond the compre- 
hension of Charles Cathcart. " I don't know everything," he would say, 
" if the parsons and professors do ; and it is easier to believe that there are 
laws of nature of which I am ignorant, than that five or six millions of good 
citizens are in a plot to deceive each other, or have suddenly lost the faculty 
of determining wlaat they see and hear ; but as to the ' spirits,' why, pshaw ! 
one spirit is enough for me, and old Satan, ■w'ith Baalam's Jack for a canter, 
covers the whole ground." Thus the philosopher would half-theorize 
and half-jest the subject into a mystery more profound than the acknowledg- 
ment of a spiritual agency. 

Naturally enough, on his return home his desire increased to continue liis 
investigations in Davis's " spirit room," but here his obnoxious method of pre- 
senting the subject, and his obliging offer " to harness up his ' Jack,' for the 
benefit of the company," made him an unwelcome visitor. Finding that his 



336 HISTORY OF MODERN 

presence was disagreeable, but still irresistibly attracted to the place, he Avas 
one evening standing outside the window listening to the proceedings within, 
when, during a pause in the music, he called out, " Don't you want ine inside 
there, old King?" Upon this, loud affirmative knockings were given, nor 
did they cease until Mr. Cathcart was permitted to enter. No sooner was 
he seated and the light extinguished, than the m.anifestations were renewed 
with increased power. The first act of the drama, however, was the launch- 
ing of the tambourine at Mr. Cathcart's head. He "ducked," but. raised his 
hand, caught and threw it back ; again and again, and for six successive 
times this feat was repeated, proving that some one who had eyesight enough 
to direct the missile in the dark, was intelligently using that tambourine with 
more skill than himself 

That night proved to Mr. Cathcart a directing intelligence in the circle 
even greater than he had dreamed of All the manifestations partook of 
this character, and he retired more perplexed than ever. Y/hen next the 
circle met Mr. Cathcart brought, by permission, an " Amazonian Irish girl," 
one of his domestics, whom he seated by the side of Miss Poston, with secret 
instructions how to detect her if there should be any evidences of movement 
on her part, or appearance of trickery. Whether the spirits had anticipated 
these arrangements, or that the presence of "the Amazon" was obnoxious 
to their power, we cannot say ; but it was announced by raps, at the com- 
mencement of the sitting, that " there would be no performance that night.'' 

Baffled, but more than ever shaken in his faith of the spiritual agency in 
this circle, Mr. Cathcart now became piqued into the resolution to sift the 
matter to the bottom, or, at least, to divest the mystery " of the unnecessary 
burden of darkness." For this purpose he contrived the following apparatus : 
he made a paper case like a long pill-box, placed a glass tube at its lower 
end, and in this put a few drops of sulphuric acid. Closing the upper part 
of the tube with blotting-paper, he put into the box a piece of phosphorus, 
and surrounded it with a mixture of sulphur and chlorate of potash. Upon 
turning this apparatus upside down, he knew that the preparation would in- 
stantly ignite with a brilliant flash, and the light would continue to burn with 
the phosphorus. Being an experienced chemist himself, he had tried this ex- 
periment several times successfully, but Avarned his family against its use ; 
indeed, he declared it to be unsafe for any one but a practical chemist, deem- 
ing, as he said, that its sudden explosion in the hand of an inexperienced 
person might afford the operator "a nearer insight into spirit-land " than 
they were prepared for. 

The result of Mr. Cathcart's experiment in the Poston Circle we shall give 
in his own words. When detailing his experiences in the Sjyiritual Telegraph 
he writes as follows : 

" Up to this time, though regarded pretty generally as a sceptic or infidel, my ortho- 
dox friends, whose name, I am pleased to say, was legion, were delighted at the determined 
stand I took against this 'modern delusion,' and were quite confident that with my 'science 
and perseverence,' I should soon expose it and do the family of man a great service. 
Hence I had their hearty and pious ' God-speed.' In addition to the facts mentioned above, 
it seemed to me thei^e was another connected with my experience, which had much signifi- 
cance. It was that the table-moving and my glass electric machine both seemed similarly 
affected by the weather. Also, the table seemed to follow a fixed rule, being governed in 
its movements by our mode of connecting hands : as, if the right little finger was uppermost, it 
would go against the sun; but if the left was uppermost, it would go with it. At a glance 
you can see that my experience, as detailed above, must have had a tendency to confirm a 
mind schooled in materialistic philosophy in the opinion that the most of what was called 
* spii^itual phenomena ' were self-delusions, or operations due to some natural forces, which 



AMERICAISf SPIRITUALISM. 337 

had long eluded science, but mnst evenutally be brought within its domain 

Knowing that a bi-illiant light would reveal all that was transpii-ing, but astound every per- 
son who unexpectedly witnessed it, I frequently 'lit up,' at home, to accustom my young 
men and boys to it. 

" On the niglit of the illumination [I use the word in a double sense] I took with me my 
youngsters, two men and two boys, and let tlu-ee friends, who v/ere there, into the secret. I 
took my seat in the circle, my friends occupying different places on the back seats. After 
the performance had proceeded some time, one of my party, a staunch New School Presby- 
terian, asked that the Fisher's Hornpipe might be played. This was complied with, and 
just when 'old King' was touching it o'K secuiidem artcm' upon the bass drum, which was 
fastened upon a frame above the table, a'fter pioneering over and under the table with my 
hands, winch my position close to it enabled me to do, I quietly placed upon it, in the very 
centre, my ' lightning-bug,' right side up with care, and dropped back into my seat, by 
which time, without noise or smell, the house was as light as day. What a picture for an 
artist ! I venture to say a more gi'apliic scene was seldom witnessed. Those not in the se- 
cret to be thus suddenly brought into the glare of such a light as they had never dreamed of, 
and my confreres to witness the stick beating the drum as if handled from above, and no 
mortal nearer than about eight feet of it ! 

" After striking a few blows by itself, in the light, the stick rose yet higher, and describ- 
ing, leisurely, a curve in the air, gently fell on the shoulder of IMiss Poston. 

" We could have seen a single hair anywhere about the table, the light was so bright. I 
sejDarately cross-examined seventeen of the beholders, and there was not a shade of difference 
in the evidence. 

" At first Captain Davis thought the light was either caused by the spirits or an explo- 
sion of some phosphorus which he had, but seeing the remnants of my box, he demanded 
the name of the author. I immediately replied that I did it. Quite excited, he demanded 
my object, when I as readily replied : 'Ask old King; he and I have a perfect understand- 
ing.' The composure and calmness with which I made this reply drew a hearty laugh from 
j\Ir. Poston, and re-established the captain's good humor. When the light was blown out, 
' King ' again reported himself with his usual loud knockings, and replied in the affirmative 
to the questions of whether he knew what I was about. He said he was anxious to give 
this matter a fair test ; that he knew me to be honest in my scepticism, and determined to 
let me run such a course that I should have no partial conversion. He invited me to come 
to the hall whenever I could, and always take a seat near the table. I have frequently at- 
tended there since. I am satisfied that every member of that circle is as honest in their be- 
lief, as I was in my scepticism. After the 'illumination,' King very readily and correctly 
answered my questions in natural philosophy, and furthermore told me that he purposely 
bandied about the tambourine betv\-een my hands and his, and broke up the sitting the night 
I put a watch on Miss Poston, all Avith a view to lead me on to the test I had now obtained. 

" I was promised musical demonstrations when none but members of my own family were 
present, and well have the spirits redeemed their word. We have now several circles in our 
neighborhood, wherein are received every kind of manifestations, includmg, to me the most 
interesting of all, vocal communications, the spirits speaking in prop-ia persojicc. 

"My youngest child sees the spirits, and describes them, and they vouch for the correct- 
ness of his descriptions. What we have A^dtnessed in my own house during the last few 
months would fill volumes. Every member of my family is as well convmced of the daily 
presence of our spirit friends as they are of their own existence. I must not omit to add 
that we have read everything that we could lay our hands on against Spiritualism, and father 
and mother would blush for even their youngest child if he could not, in five minutes, cite 
facts under his own observation which would utterly demolish every iDuerUe attempt at ex- 
planation of these phenomena. 

" Not an immoral thought — naught else, indeed, but love, charity, and \Adsdom — has ever 
been indicated by our heavenly visitants. I laiow they have brouglit ' glad tidings of great 
joy ' to us ; they have made us happier ; and I verily believe that we must be hardened in- 
deed, if they do not make us better. 

"The best demonstrations [and I hardly dare hope for better] are to be found in Mr. 
Poston's circle at home. Indeed, it appears to me that we must wait long before the mind 
of the public is so enlightened as to enable spirits to give their higher grades of development 
to a public sitting. 

"Charles W. Cathcart. 

"P. S. — With many I have lost my standing as a philosopher; but with all, I have won 
the reputation of a first-rate lamplighter. I had sooner have the reputation of an humble 
lamplighter in the discovery of truth, than that of a philosopher groping in darloiess. 

"C. w. c 



338 HISTORY OF MODERN 

From the time when so marked a change came over the spirit of Mr 
Cathcart's dream, raps, table-moving, and other phenomena, accompanied with 
clear and unmistakable evidence of spiritual intelligence, pervaded his house- 
hold. Several of his family were relieved from pain and even severe sick- 
ness by spirit-power, and the healthful touches of kind, invisible hands. Lights 
flitted through their darkness ; voices spoke to them ; hands clasped their 
own; and their children learned to look upon, as well as to think of "the 
spirits " as their best, wisest, and most beloved of friends. The " Amazon," to 
whom Mr. Cathcart had intrusted the task of detecting Miss Poston in im- 
posture, proved to be a remarkable medium, and, accustomed to look to in- 
fluence through her, they failed sometimes to note its abundance with other 
members of the household. They had musical demonstrations of the strong- 
est kind, besides voices speaking through the trumpet, and the production of 
many-colored and most wonderfully brilliant lights. 

After some months of these interesting experiences, " the Irish girl," who 
they regarded as their principal medium, left them, and the family were for a 
Avhile so overwhelmed with this loss that they considered themselves "p^nnged 
into the valley of the shadow of death," and became almost inconsolable. 

By persevering with their circles,however, they soon recognized the welcome 
presence and manifestations of the now-beloved spirits, and then they dis- 
covered that their most powerful medium-was Mr. Cathcart's little son Henry, 
a child scarcely seven years old. No sooner did the family become harmonized 
to the new mediumistic power than it was displayed in the most wonderful 
demonstrations they had ever witnessed. Little Henry was tossed about the 
room like a feather. Lifted in the arms of the spirits, he would be carried to 
the ceiling, cornices, windows, perched up on the highest nooks in the rooms, 
or carried anywhere and everywhere beyond the reach of human arms to 
place him. 

And in these performances, no one seemed so intensely delighted as the 
child himself 

When being handed about, as the other children would describe, "just like 
an apple," the little fellow would fairly shout with rapture, and cry " Go it, old 
King ! I'm not a bit afraid ; take me again ; take me again ! " Sometimes the 
child would be entranced, and in that condition speak Avords of wonderful 
wisdom and beauty ; but confident as the family had now become of the ten- 
der care and perfectly beneficent character of their spirit friends, the anxious 
mother could not bear to see her little one under this abnormal influence, 
and besought the spirits to abstain from entrancing him. They repeatedly as- 
sured her through the trumpet, that this influence would be beneficial to the 
child, and enabled them to perform much stronger feats than they could other- 
wise effect ; but as Mrs. Cathcart could not be reconciled to this pha se of 
the power, the spirits kindly abstained from entrancement. 

After Mr. Cathcart's entire conviction both of the spiritual and bene- 
ficent character of his mysterious visitants, he built, or rather fitted up, a con- 
venient " spirit room " for their use, which, for several years, he generously 
opened free to the public, giving all who chose to visit it abundant opportu- 
nities of investigation through his own family and two other equally powerful 
mediums who became developed in the neighborhood, namely, Mrs. Parton and 
Mrs. McKellips. Either at Davis's or Cathcart's spirit rooms, therefore, 
manifestations of the most astounding character, besides trance speaking, 
healing by the touch, and evidences of the presence of departed spirit friends, 
were afforded to all who came, without money and without price. 

The character, high social standing, and disinterestedness of the gentlemen 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 335 

who promoted these meetings should always be remembered before nide and 
insolent criticism is passed upon them. 

As to Mr. Cathcart, if he Avas "fanatical" in the eyes of those who could 
not realize the priceless value he set upon his newly-acquired spiritual knowl- 
edge, at least the narrative of his antecedent experiences will prove that he 
was neither bigoted nor blindly deluded ; whilst to those who venture to repeal 
the oft-disproved falsehood that the Spiritualists shrink from scientific investi- 
gations, Mr. Cathcart' s Avell-known acquirements in the realm of the natural 
sciences, alone would repudiate such a charge. 

But if the numerous examples already cited are insufficient to prove the 
candid spirit in which the best men of the spuitual ranks have courted rather 
than shunned investigation, let the following still unanswered challenge speak 
for itself If it is alleged that its publication chiefly in the spiritualistic litera- 
ture of the day excluded other scientists from observing it, we answer, first, 
that it was sufficiently well known and widely spread to become matter of con- 
versation throughout the entire West ; and next, that it has been the general 
policy of the press, with a few noble exceptions, to exclude from their col- 
umns all that the Spiritualists had to allege in their own behalf, and then 
sneer at them because they had nothing to say; deny them the right of public 
representation, and then insolently allege they had no representation to 
make. 

A most brilliant example of this system of quashing the evidence will 
be found in the following case : A certain London journal published the state- 
ment that " Fay, the notorious confederate of the Davenport Brothers, " had 
publicly prqclaimed himself an impostor and declared that all the manifesta- 
tions which he and others had imposed upon the world were the work of decep- 
tion and confederacy. 

The writer of the London journal then went on to declare that as the said 
Fay had exposed himself and his confederates, the exposure of these impos- 
tors necessarily involved the entire demolition of "the gigantic humbug, Spir- 
itualism." This paragraph was repeated, with variations, in nearly every 
respectable periodical in Great Britain. When it finally reached the eye of 
Messrs. Davenport and party, then travelling in England, Mr. William Fay, 
their associate, wrote out a succinct statement to the effect that the confession 
of imposture alluded to was made by one Henry Melville Fay, of New York, 
a personage not even distantly related to the Aviiter, who was still a strong 
Spiritualist, a spirit medium, and no impostor. To the journals that had 
given circulation to tlie calumny on himself and the Davenports, Mr. William 
Fay sent this plain explanatory statement ; and if the reader is at any 
loss to discover how many of the English journalists were honest and manly 
enough to make some effort to do justice and contradict the injurious falsehood 
they had put into irretrievable circulation, we will save him the trouble of gues- 
sing by giving the sum total in these two words — not one. 

The substance of Mr. Cathcart" s challenge is contained in the following let- 
ter, which, subsequent to its enunciation in printed circulars, etc., in Indiana, 
Mr. C. refers to again, when crating to the editor of the Spiritual Telegraph. 

SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, NEW VORK — LETTER FRO:>.I HON. CHARLES CATHCART. 

"Laporte, Indiana, February, 2.1, 1857. 
"Messrs. Editors, — Since my name has appeared in your paper, I have been in the 
constant reception of so many letters making inquiries about the mode of obtaining our man- 
ifestations, that I am compelled to say to the curious I can no longer answer their letters 
separately, but that, if we succeed in learning anything further on the subject which may 



340 HISTORY OF MODERN 

promise usefulness, you shall have it for publication. I also receive a great many inquiries 
to be propounded to the spirits that meet with us ; so here I beg to say to all such corres- 
pondents that I will call the attention of our spirit -friends to their communications, and will 
leave it to them to make such replies as they deem fit If none are given, I cannot com- 
mand them. The course I suggest is all I, on my part, can do. 

" I think with a little care, any intelligent person might elicit our modus operandi from 
the two articles over my signature, which recently appeared in your paper. I will, how- 
ever, once more briefly describe our mode of proceedmg. 

" We sit around a table in the light, in the developing circle, as we call it, for about ten 
minutes, the left hand in contact with, and upon the next one's right, and so on around 
the table. 

" Remember, you must sit passive, and as near at peace with all the rest of mankind as 
possible. 

" You want a circle who can sit still and not help the spirits. Let the spirits have it their 
own way, and it is surprising how much better they can do ■without our aid than with it. 
If you have good music from mortals, all the better, but it must be made by some one 
outside of the circle, and not even there by any one under spiritual influence. These con- 
ditions, our experince has proved to be absolutely essential. 

" Sometimees we are three in unmber, sometimes fifteen, as it may happen. When ten 
minutes has expired, we extinguish the light, let go hands, and sit back two or three feet, 
when the manifestations generally begin upon the table, the spirits beating or playing on 
whatever is there. The better the instruments, the better the music Ave get. No peculiar- 
ity is required in the room nor in the fixtures. All places and all tablesanswer equally well, 
provided you have the mediums and can exclude the light. My reading has been quite exten- 
sive, and so has my acquaintance with Spiritualists, mediums, etc., but I am quite satisfied 
that no rational explanation has yet been offered by which we can imderstand the mode or 
forces through which the spirits produce the phenomena we witness. I have been a close 
student of material philosophy, and have acquired readiness and some skill in the experiments 
necessary to the understanding of the laws governing the action of what scientists call the 
'natural forces,' but I am perfectly at a loss when I attempt to conceive how these 'spirit- 
ual manifestations' are caused. 

" I do not, however, for a moment doubt but that they are governed by laws as fixed and 
permanent as those of gravitation, and only require that the conditions necessary to their 
manifestation should be observed, when, as in the case of the breaking of the stem of an 
apple, the inevitable manifestation of its fall occurs. 

"You may judge of the imbecility of scepticism in this country, when I say to you that 
the two following propositions have long been made public without acceptance : First, 
that any intelligent persons putting up a hundred dollars, I will cover it with a thousand, 
and that they can have full opportunity by lighting up the room, etc., to prove whether 
these manifestations are made by fraudulent means. In case of such proof, I pledge myself 
to giye my thousand dollars in charity ; on the contrary, after full and fair trial, their hun- 
dred is to go to the poor. Second. I have long ago offered publicly, a reward of five hun- 
dred dollars for the evidence of fraud on the part of those sitting in my hall, with the ad- 
vantage of special sessions to be held for the investigation, and though hundreds upon hun- 
dreds, from the first men of the country to the least, have been here, the scepticism of none 
of them has been strong enough to induce them to make the effort to pocket the five hun- 
dred dollars. 

" Another offer was made to the citizens of Laporte, namely, that they should put up two 
thousand dollars, which I would cover \yith a like sum ; that a drum should be suspended 
from the ceiling of the court house, out of reach from the floor ; that the Poston Circle 
would sit in the room, manacled ; and that if the drum was not beaten, the two thousand 
dollars put up by their friends should be dispensed in charity, but that if it was, the other 
two thousand should be disposed of in like manner ; every means possible to be taken by 
locks, guards, etc., to prevent imposition. The scepticism of a town of six thousand people, 
was not strong enough to risk a donation of two thousand dollars to theu- own poor. 

"Yours truly 

"Charles. W. Cathcaet." 

A year later than the date of the above, Mr. Cathcart writes as follows to 
the Spiritual Clarion : 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 3 4 1 

LETTER FROM HON, CHAS. W. CATHCART — SPIRITUAL CLARION, AUBURN. 

"Spirit Room, Laporte, Indiana. 

"Ed. Clarion, — For tliree or four years I have kept open a 'spirit room,' on my own 
premises, at my owii expense. The mediums are Mrs. Parton and Mrs. McKellips, both 
of whom have been developed almost as long as the Fox family. Besides astonishing musi- 
cal manifestations, speaking, spirit voices, lights, etc., we have now a series of beautiful 
pictures of the spirit land, painted by tlie late E. Rogers, of Columbus, Ohio, and exhibited 
through the magic lantern. There are forty-five scenes in all. 

"I have spent a great deal in giving those manifestations to the world, and have never 
received, and never v/ill, any pecuniary return. 

" I am grateful that I can afford to do so. The mediums will accept of a fair remunera- 
tion from those who can afford it, and if those who witness the exhibition of Rogers's 
paintings, see fit to give anything for the benefit of his widow and orphans, it will be faith- 
fully handed to them, and gratefully received. The spiritual press will confer a favor on in- 
vestigators, and oblige the undersigned, by copying this letter. 

"Respectfully, yours, 

"Charles. W. Cathcart." 

The following letter is from the head of the " Poston Circle," and is here 
inserted to show the spirit in which the manifestations were conducted : 

THE spirits at CATHCART'S GROVE, INDIANA — SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, NEW 

YORK. 

" Spirit Hall, — Owing to the numerous inquiries made by the public, and with a view 
to their better accommodation, the circle controlled by the undersigned will meet at the 
hall at Cathcart's Grove, on the evenmg of every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. 

" There is a large and comfortable room adjoining the hall, mteuded for the reception of 
visitors. 

" The sittings will commence at six o'clock for the present, and then be governed by the 
time of candle-lighting. Strict order and decorum will be maintained, and those otherwise 
disposed will find the hall an uncongenial spot. The hall is situated on the stage route be- 
tween Laporte and Westville, nine miles from the former, and two from the latter place. 

" Investigators will find at the Concannon House, Westville, comfortable quarters and 
a conveyance to the hall. A register will be kept, and every pains taken to give all comers 
the fullest opportunities for investigation. When on any one evening there are more pres- 
sent than can be accommodated, those in the vicinity will be expected to give way to those 
from a distance. 

" While all well-behaved persons will be admitted, and fair warning is given that none 
others need apply, the scrutmy of the wise, the learned, and scientific, is particularly in- 
vited. 

" The circle will meet as above till early in April. 

"E. C. POSTON." 

Our closing notices of this district, and its remarkable phenomenal de- 
monstrations, will be given in a few extracts from the narrative of a gentle- 
man of high scientific attainments and literary distinction. We are not 
privileged to attach his signature to the statements printed in the Spiritual 
Telegraph, from which our extracts are drawn, but we are peniiitted to say 
that his name and standing are considered, both by the editor of that journal 
and the author, as the highest authority which they could receive for the 
fidelity of his narration. 

The phenomena described differ in no respect from others already noticed. 
We shall not, therefore, inflict their details on the reader, but confine ourselves 
to quoting passages of interest, descriptive of the mediums, or the circum- 
stances attending the circles. 

The writer commences his coxmmunication by admitting that he is only an 
investigator of one year's standing, with a very sceptical turn of mind; but as 



342 HISTORY OF MODERN 

he assumes to be the possessor of that pecuHar shrewdness with which so 
many inquirers promise themselves they shall immediately discover that 
which has baffled thousands of their fellow-creatures before them, he declares 
his willingness to pursue his researches into what he confesses to be, as far as 
he has gone, "one of the most profound and wonderful psychological mysteries 
of the day." 

After some personal details of this character, he proceeds to say : 

"Seeing in the Telegraph, a fewweeks ago, a letter from the Hon. C. W. Cathcart, des- 
cribing the manifestations in his neighborhood, I wrote to him to inquire whether, by a 
journey there, I could obtain an opportunity of witnessing similar demonstrations. In an- 
swer, I received a very kind and cordial invitation to liis liouse, where I liave passed a few 
days most agreeably, with his intelligent and estimable family. Every facility was here 
afforded me for making the investigations I desired, and I propose, even at the risk of ap- 
pearing tedious, to describe them minutely. 

" My principal object was to ascertain, by satisfactory proof, whether the manifestations, 
as they are called, were produced through some agency of the persons present, or whether 
they were really to be attributed to some power [intelligent, of course] over which those 
persons had no control. For this purpose a close and searching examination was necessary, 
and the details may not be unimportant to those who may thence be able to judge of my 
liability to be deceived. I shall only further premise that, whilst I was determined to make 
my investigation in the spirit of candor and fairness, I was equally resolved to expose either 

deception or illusion if I could detect it." [Here follows a minute 

account of the phenomena already so well known to the reader, as witnessed in the Poston 
Circle and Cathcart' s spirit room. ] "On Sunday, December 7," our correspondent goes 
onto say, " I had an opportunity of hearing for the first time, a very excellent trance medium 
at a small farm-house on the prairie. It was a Mrs. Livmgston, a countrywoman of about 
twenty-five years of age, of amiable and exemplary character, but, as I was informed, en- 
tirely without education. A circle of six or seven persons sat around a table with 
her, for about five minutes, when she arose with her eyes closed, and delivered a discourse 
of an hour and a half in length which would have done no discredit to any of the most 
learned and distinguished orators in the country. The subject was, ' There is nothing lost in 
nature.' The argument was consistent and well sustained throughout by a variety of ap- 
propriate illustrations. The diction was far above mediocrity ; ornate, but in very good 
taste, and strictly correct. Many of the passages were highly poetical, but there was no 
vulgar inflation of style. It ceitainly looked odd to see a plain countrywoman in a brown 
worsted dress, the front covered with pins, without a collar, and with a calico apron flutter- 
ing around her, delivering such a discom-se, with all the gestures and intonation of voice of 
an accomplished orator. This person, in her normal state, is of a quiet, retiring disposition, 
and incapable of delivering, as I was told, even a connected discourse. 

"On the evening of the Sth, I attended another public and also a private circle at Davis's 
Hall, the Postons being present. The manifestations were similar to what I had before 
witnessed, only they were even more spirited. 'King' seemed determined to astonish us 
with an unusual display of his dexterity in striking the drumsticks among the copper plates, 
upon the. wires, table, triangle, and drums, with such marvellous rapidity that the sound 
produced from tlie other instruments seemed to be slurred in as gi^ace-notes to each suc- 
ceeding beat of the drum. He would occasionally give one of the company a slight tap 
upon the forehead or breast, as a gentle hint that he was aware of their presence, but these 
vagaries, which were always executed during the progress of an air, never occasioned the loss 
of a single note of the music. During the private sitting, a guitar which was lying on the 
table, out of tune, the strings not evea being in the right places, was played upon m a most 
exquisite manner. 

"Several airs in succession were executed in accompaniment with the violin, with great 
rapidity, and a sweetness of tone I never before heard from a guitar. The instrument was 
laying very close to me on the table, and I was unable to discover that it was moved from 
that position in the slightest degree 

" The spirit that is supposed to officiate at these performances is called in the neighbor- 
hood by the name of 'King.' In reference to this appellation, it seems it was adopted ia 
the course of the manifestations at Davis's Hall, where, in reply to questions, the querists 
were informed that they might as well call him ' King' as anything else ; that such was not 
his name on earth, but what that was, or whether he had died twenty, or twenty thousand 
years ago, was immaterial to their investigations. All that was requisite was that t]:ey 
should have some recognized designation, and ' Kmg' would do as well as another, only he 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 343 

preferred that they should call him ' Friend King,' rather than ' Old King,' as there are no 
old men in the spirit-world. There, they never gi-ow old 

" Many persons are disposed to discredit the manifestations, because the}' are made in 
darknesy. But the question is not why darkness is chosen rather tlian light, but can such 
manifestations be made at all, without human agency? Reasons are assigned, which are not 
inconsistent with science and philosophy, for the necessity of darloiess, but when manifesta- 
tions are made in that condition which, well considered, transcend in aU respects human 
agency to accomplish, then the question hinges solely on their production at all under the 
circumstances, and the darlmess only increases the difficulty and calls for an excess of care 
and cautious observation. 

" Again, if the darkness is a cause of suspicion, would it not, on the other hand, render it 
extremely difficult, if not impossible, for any individual to execute such performances as M'ere 
made in my presence? How could the instruments be handled with such force, accuracy, 
delicacy, yet precision, in total darkness ? The musician who could perform so well and 
curiously by daylight, would establish a veiy high reputation; and if by long practice he 
should enable himself to perform such feats in total darloiess upon his own instruments, 
arranged in a particular manner, it seems incredible that he should be able to perform upon 
them just as well when, as was often the case, they were altered before the circles, in 
many ways disarranged, and sometimes changed. Except at the circles, they are forbidden 
to be touclied or practiced on ; the family never touch them during the day, as can be wit- 
nessed by the neighbors, who surround the spirit house, which is, moreover, upon a public 
road 

"It is also proper to consider what motives the parties concerned may have had to im- 
pose upon themselves or others. As I have already stated, these musical and other wonder- 
ful physical phenomena, occur in the presence of Mr. Cathcart's family alone, theu" medium 
being a bright little son of seven years of age 

" Now, Mr. Cathcart is a gentleman possessing a splendid estate, of high social standing, 
and well Icnowar tlii-oughout the adjacent country as a man of unquestioned honor, candor, 
learning, and the strictest truthfulness. 

" He has spent his lesiure hours for years in the study of the natural sciences, in which 
he has acqiiired a practicarknowledge raiely exceeded. That such a man could have any 
motive to hold these circles with his owti family for the mere purpose of deluding them or 
others, or that one or more of such a family would be capable, even if disposed, to get up 
sucli performances, and keep up the deception for years, is altogether incredible. 

"The Poston family live upon a tract of land rented from Mr. Davis. If they could 
have any motive for getting up such manifestations, the most obvious one would be profit. 
Tliey might, unquestionably, make large profits by such performances, could they achieva 
them tliemselves and exliibit them, even without the pretence of spiriiual aid. If profit 
were their object, here then is a legitimate and rational means of employing the talents 
they must have cultivated with such immense labor and time, if they do perform themselves. 
On the other hand, I was informed that they had received offers of large sums of money to 
travel and exhibit their gifts, but upon makmg inquiry of ' King' if he would consent, they 
were informed that they might go if they pleased, but he would not accompany them, as 
his manifestations were not to be made for speculative purposes. Upon this, the family 
naively stated they could not go, as without 'King and the spirits' they 'should have no 

capital to trade upon.' The confidence of all these persons in the advice and m- 

structicns of ' King' seems to be unbounded. They rarely take any important step without 
first consulting him, and they allege that they have never been wronged or deceived by his 
instructions. I was informed that Mr. Davis has formerly been a man of rather a quarrel- 
some and litigious disposition, and had at the time of his first intercourse with ' King,' no 
less than seven lawsuits with his neighbors pending, all of which he has dismissed by ' King's ' 
advice, although in some of them he was supposed to have had good cause for complaint. 
Poston had formerly been a boatman on the Mississippi River, and had acquired the usual 
habits of that class. Without being mtemperate, he perhaps di-ank a little too freely ; and 
from some cause, shortly before my visit, a misunderst.anding had occurred between him, 
Davis, and another person, which threatened a disruption of their circle. In this state of 
the case, ' King ' lectured them all roundly ; told each of them of their faults, and re- 
quired their amendment. He obliged Poston to make a solemn promise never to take 
another drop of spirituous liquor, which promise he alluded to in my presence. 

"Finally, he required of them all to shake hands across the table, and admonished them 
to be good friends and forget all then" contentions ; and as none of them seem to have the 
slightest notion of resisting this invisible friend's mandates, harmony was effectually restored. 
One cannot help remarking that on the supposition, occasionally put forth, that these mani- 
festations are attributed to 'demons,' the conduct and advice of 'ICing' is quite cUfferent 



344 HISTORY OF MODERN 

from wha': we might expect, and by no means in harmony with our preconceived notions of 
'evil spirits.' 

" A curious instance of the effect of disturbed mental conditions was related to me by 
Mr. Cathcart. 

" It seems that his little son, Henry, was frequently carried about by the spirits, and was 
occasionally lifted up and put astride on the drum. On one occasion, when he was thus ele- 
vated, his mother became exceedingly alarmed, when ' King ' instructed them to light up 
and take the child down themselves, as his mother's nervous state of mind had so impaired 
the conditions by which he operated that he could not safely take him down himself. . . . 

"It was quite remarkable that the children, so far from being alarmed at these manifes- 
tations, regard them and the presence of 'King' with the greatest delight. 'Old King,' 
as they will persist in callmg him, appears to be their best, and most dearly-cherished friend. 

" The perfection of the demonstrations appears to increase in proportion to the fidelity 
of the circle and the development of the mediums. 

" The Post on Circle has been held in this present neighborhood above a year, during 
which time the improvement in its phenomena is said to have been gradual and constant. 
It is only about six weeks since the first audible speaking commenced. They are assured 
that the manifestations will continue to improve with their steady and persistent attention." 

The phenomena recorded in this and the preceding chapter, as exhibited 
in two different sections of country, and amongst four famiUes of different 
social position, varying temperaments, and intellectual acquirements, com- 
prehend nearly all that has yet been produced in regularly constituted circles, 
under the condition of darkness. In each instance cited, the total absence 
of any of those ordinary motives that could induce the practice of deception, 
must be carefully noted. Messrs. Koons, Tippie, Davis, and Cathcart, were 
all persons whose wealth and social positions removed them from the least 
suspicion of interested motives for simulating spiritual manifestations. Jona- 
than Koons and Hon. Charles Cathcart were absolufely opposed [the latter 
bitterly so] to the admission of a spiritual hypothesis to account for the phe- 
nomena. 

The gallant and liberal spirit in which Mr. Cathcart tendered large sums 
of money, thus offering the most irresistible of all temptations, for the pur- 
X^ose of detecting himself and his own pretensions, leaves the slanderer no 
excuse for vilifying those engaged with him in these transactions. The im- 
mense sacrifices continued for years by Koons and Tippie, and the long and 
untiring fidelity of Messrs. Davis and Poston, are equally strong evidence for 
their utter disinterestedness. Besides all this array of incontrovertible evidence, 
and the testimony of the manifestations themselves, the mediums were, for 
the most part, children, and absolutely incapable, had it been necessary, of 
practicing a systematic and astute course of deception. 

What remains, then, as a point of attack ? Can the author have had the 
hardihood to cite the names of states, counties, places, and persons that 
never had an existence ; or, in recording these, with all their witnesses' names, 
etc., with an even painful circumstantiality of detail, have we dared to garble 
facts still patent in the knowledge of hundreds and even thousands of living 
witnesses, ready, and many of them able, to come forward at any moment, 
to prove or disprove our statements ? 

If none are found able upon sufficient grounds, to invalidate our record, 
where are the leaders of public opinion in press, school, and pulpit, Avho still 
dare to launch their ribald denial, or solemn scriptural platitudes against the 
pl.enomena of a cause that can bear such testimony to its truth and worth? 
Where are the sage philosophers who pretend to explain all nature's mysteries, 
and are yet only able, with rude, blank denial, to dispose of the gyrations of 
floating bodies and dancing tables ? How much higher do they star d in the 
scale of knovvledge than the "Baalam's ass" of Charles Cathcxrt? or have 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 345 

they yet reached to his understanding of material laAvs, when the latter is 
"hitched on" to ponderable bodies? Where, too, are the pious Christians 
who consider that day unsuitably spent which does not begin and end with 
" long prayers and loud aniens," and yet devote their best energies to quench- 
ing the spirit, refusing to " covet after spiritual gifts," or rather remaining de- 
terminedly ignorant of them ; and when forced to admit of their continued 
exercise in the persons of their neighbors, raising their biblical cry of "Away 
with him ! away with him ! He is a fellow not tit to live ! " 

There are other classes, in all ranks of life, to whom the great modern spir- 
itual outpouring is inconvenient, and who, like the ancient image -makers of 
Ephesus, find the large liberty of individualized knowledge which the spiritual 
movement promotes, liable " to spoil their trade in image-making." 

For such, at least, we can find a material if not a spiritual excuse, nor mar- 
vel when the multitude, who have hitherto bowed down before the images 
which priests, and schoolmen present for worship, shout, " Great is Diana of 
the Ephesians ! " But be the cause what it may that moves them, when 
men persistently deny, or as persistently and recklessly vilify those great 
and wonderful evidences of a good and beneficent spiritual outpouring, it is 
our part, in justice and fraternal feeling, to warn them that now, as of old, 
they are fighting against the living God. 

We know it will be alleged that imposture of the grossest kind has been 
practiced, especially among spiritual mediums and in dark circles, and that 
records to this effect will be found in these pages. All this we admit, but 
such admissions never impeach the integrity of the phenomena produced un- 
der strictly guarded conditions, and in circumstances where imposture would 
have'been equally causeless, groundless, aimless, and impossible. Connect 
the time when the genuine manifestations noticed in this volume were given, 
with the persons and circumstances of their production. 

Remember that we have been writing chiefly of the origmals, not the imita- 
tions ; and then think what hardihood of purpose or fertility of human invention 
could first have devised, and then successfully caried out such inconceivable 
phenomena ! 

Granted that spurious imitators and puerile attempts at deception had been 
far more numerous than our candid statements proclaim, could they for one 
moment impeach the original truth and value of the royal coin stamped and 
patented from the Divine mint of spiritual existence ? 

Ninety-nine spurious counterfeits can never destroy the value of one pre- 
cious piece, fresh from the treasury of immortality ; and that these have been 
vouchsafed to buy souls from the power of darkness, infidefity, and supersti- 
tion, we know, and testify of in these startling and wonderful spiritual phe- 
nomena. 



34^ HISTORY OF MODERN 



CHAPTER XXXIIL 

WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED. — CINCINNATI. 

" Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep." 

Spontaneity of the Manifestations in Cincinnati — The young Prophetess — 
Mrs. Bushnell — The Foxes in the Queen City— The Specialty of Soil and 
Climate — Cincinnati Sunday Meetings. 

Passing oyer many sections of country where Spiritualism has made a deep 
and lasting impression on the community, we proceed to notice its advent in 
what, from size and commercial importance has been justly entitled " the 
Queen City of the West," Cincinnati. 

Amongst private families it is known that the manifestations had been rife 
before the rumor of the Rochester knockings reached Cincinnati ; and after 
the fame of this remarkable movement became matter of general notoriety it 
was found that strange and heretofore unaccountable sounds, sights, and pre- 
ternatural disturbances had, for two or three years previous, been agitating the 
minds of many of the most respectable persons in the city. 

These unusual phenomena were attributed to the general prevalence of 
magnetic experiments, which here, as in other places, had been widely practiced 
and resulted in confounding some, instructing others, very considerably dis- 
turbing the opinions of materialism, and perplexing even the spiritually-minded. 
In the latter category we may mention a family of high social standing in 
Cincinnati, who, after having witnessed some public exhibitions of magnetism, 
partly in jest and partly in earnest, proceeded to experiment with each other 
in private. 

The result was that under the influence of her father's magnetic passes, a 
young lady of fourteen years old became entranced, but instead of exhibit- 
ing the usual psychological submission to her operator's will, she proceeded 
to delineate, in striking pantomimic action, the habits and j)eculiarities of 
several deceased persons whom the family at once recognized. She also de- 
scribed spirits, and prophesied correctly the approaching deaths of two of her 
acquaintances, who were then in the enjoyment of perfect health. These 
singular conditions of spiritual lucidity could be induced, as the family alleged, 
at any time by mesmeric passes, and first appeared in this young lady's case 
as early as 1846. Another lady became the subject of occult power by visit- 
ing a "Shaker" community in the vicinity of Cincinnati, on returning from 
which she was annoyed with strange and unaccountable rappings, which fol- 
lowed her whithersoever she went, and continued an unsolved mystery until 
the reports of the Rochester knockings induced her to apply the telegraphic 
formulae to the sounds, when it was discovered that her spirit friends had for 
years been striving to communicate with her through this method, but had, up 
to that time, been baffled by her superstitious fears and ignorance of spirit 
communion. 

Mr. M. A. Robinson, a worthy tradesman of the city, testified that several 
of his children saw and described spirits, from the time when they could speak, 
and one of them, a little blue-eyed fairy of seven years, would frequently fall 
into spontaneous trances, and deliver sermons of over an houi-'s length, full 
of logical acumen and deep religious fervor. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 347 

Mr. Robinson has favored the author with an extract from one of these ex- 
traordinar}^ discourses, given in 1S45, at least two years before the disturbances 
at Hydesville. 

" Have ye not read that in these latter days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and 
your sons and your daughters shall prophecy : Your old men shall dream dreams and your 
young men shall see visions. And lo ! this is the day of which the Lord hath testified, and 
he that promised to pour out wisdom through the mouths of babes and sucklings doth move 
these lips to testify of his evei'lasting truth. The promise is redeemed ; the day of the 
spirit is at hand ; voices shall be heard crying in the wilderness, and that not one, but many; 
and their sound shall reach from end to end of the earth, and he shall confound the wisdom 
of the wise with things that are naught, witli dreams, and visions, and trances ; Avith arising 
of the dead, and revelations which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world ; 
aye with so mighty a change, that ere this century shall be out, man shall bear witness that 
the Lord hath made all thmgs new, that there is 'no more death.' " 

The parents of this child, now resident in Iowa, feared to "blaze abroad" 
the remarkable gifts of the young prophetess, first, from their own lack of 
faith in her mysterious predictions, and next, because they painfully realized 
the abnormal character of her control, and, deeming it was " disease," if not 
" demoniacal possession," confided its nature only to their family physician 
and the good Presbyterian minister of whose congregation they were mem- 
bers. The former precribed calomel, which little Ada resolutely refused to 
take, alleging that the angels had her in charge, and bid her refuse it ; whilst 
the latter prayed over her, on which the little saint repaid him with invoca- 
tions so pious and eloquent that the good man was melted into tears, and 
wisely concluding that " such heavenly fruit could not proceed from a cor- 
rupt tree," advised the parents "to let her alone to God and her angels, and 
see what would come of it." 

We could cite more cases of seemingly spontaneous mediumship which 
antedated the visit of the Misses Fox to Cincinnati, but the above will suffice 
to prove the spontaneity of the movement in- that city. 

The first public manifestation of spirit communion was given through the 
mediumship of Mrs. Bushnell, a prescribing and medical clairvoyant, who 
visited Cincinnati in the course of a professional tour. 

Mrs. Bushnell had heard the mysterious knockings in Western New York 
and Ohio, and shortly after her first interviews with the spirits, she found the 
powers which she had witnessed through other media developed in her own 
person ; in short, she became a rapping, writing, and seeing medium, in addi- 
tion to her original endowments as a fine clairvoyant and psychological 
subject. 

Mr. Coggeshall, a highly respectable citizen of Cincinnati, became so im- 
pressed with the marvel and abundance of the evidences of spirit communion 
which he witnessed, that he published a minute and very useful account of 
his experiences up to about 1852. 

From his pamphlet we gather the following minutes of the first public 
manifestations in Cincinnati : 

"On the evening of the 26th of September, 1850, we had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. 
Bushnell with a select party at the house of Professor J. M. Buchanan, the well-knoviai 
neurologist, and editor of the younial of Man. During the evening Mrs. Bushnell was 
psychologically influenced by the Professor. During this state she made some very accu- 
rate phrenological examinations of several gentlemen present, whom she had never seen 
before that evening, and who sat, during the examination, at the opposite side of the room 
from her. 

" When Dr. Buchanan was about to awaken her from the clairvoyant state, she bid him 
stop, and entered upon a description of the appearance and character of the doctor' s father, 



348 



HISTOR Y OF MODERN 



many years deceased. She gave a very correct description of his personal appearance, as 
compared with a portrait afterwards sliown tlie company. We requested permission to ask 
tire lady some questions. It was granted. We inquired if we had recently lost a relative. 
She said yes: a person heavier than we are; that he was at a distance, west ; that he was 
going farther west ; that he resembled us very much ; that he must be a brother ; and that 
he died suddenly of a disease of the stomach. She described his appearance perfectly ; gave 
the peculiarities of his mind, and stated that he was in pursuit of an object by which he had 
hoped to 'shine in the world;' that just before he died, he expressed many regrets; and 
she described effects and mementos that we are positive he had with him, as perfectly as we 
could have done it. Her impressions of all the matters in reference to him of whom she 
spoke were correct. 

"After this examination, we had several opportunities of testing Mrs. B.'s claivoyant 
powers, and became convinced that, in many respects and for many purposes, they were 
remarkable. During the interviews we had with Mrs. B. for clairvoyant investigations, 
we learned from her that the 'mysterious noises' had often been made in her presence, and 
that she had communicated with spirits by means of them. Our curiosity being excited, 
we expressed a strong desire to witness the 'the manifestations.' On two occasions the 
sounds were heard by Mrs. B. in our company, but were not communicative. The first 
positive ' manifestations ' were heard on the night of the 14th of October, at the house of a 
gentleman with whom Mrs. B. boarded. The only intelligible communication received at 
this time was, 'Your battery is not strong enough.' 

"On Wednesday evening, October 16, a number of persons had assembled for the pur- 
pose of receiving the benefit of Mrs. Bushnell's medical examinations, when the sounds were 
again heard. Questions were asked, and correct rapping replies given to a number of inter- 
rogatories, which, it is said, could not have been correctly answered by any mortaL 

" The report of this meeting excited intense curiosity, and the next evening a larger 
company assembled at the same place. A circle having been formed, the rappings com- 
menced. Among the gentlemen of this circle were Mr. Samuel Goodin, of Goodin's 
building, Court street ; G. W. Ball, stove-founder, of Covington, Kentucky ; Dr. J. P. 
Getchell, of the Eclectic Medical College ; Mr. Anson Atwood, of Troy, New York ; Mr. 
Augustus Wattles, of Rm-al, Ohio; Dr. WiUiam Owens, of the Eclectic College; Mr. Nor- 
ton, stove-dealer on Main street ; and a number of other gentlemen, together with some 
ladies, strangers to us. 

" The alphabet was called by one of the gentlemen, who understood the modus operandi 
of communication, and the persons in the circle took turns in putting questions. It would 
not be proper to detail all the questions and replies, many of them being unimportant, and 
many, tlrough perhaps important to the persons interested, are not worth public narra- 
tion 

" Before the company dispersed, some one asked if all the spirits in the room would rap 
on the table. In response, there were a great number of sounds made at the same moment 
upon the table, some loud, some feeble, some sharp, and some prolonged. 

" During Friday and Saturday of this week, most of the persons who visited Mrs. Bush- 
nell for medical consultation, heard the mysterious sounds, and many astonishing commmii- 
cations were given, if the testimony of respectable persons is to be credited. 

" On Saturday evening, October 19, we had an opportunity of hearing these strange de- 
monstrations, at the house of J. F. Taylor, the gentleman with whose family we make our 
home, a man very deeply interested in spiritual investigation, and in whose house no decep- 
tion would be allowed under any circumstances. A company had been invited to hear Mrs. 
B. lecture on Spiritualism. Among the persons present were Major Gano, clerk of the 
Supreme Court of Cincinnati; Dr. J. S. Garretson ; Dr. William Owens, of the Eclectic 
College ; Dr. Childs, of Walnut Hills ; Mr. Augustus Watles ; Dr. J. Wilson, Botanic 
Physician ; and many other gentlemen, whose names it is needless to mention, and also a 

ge number of ladies. 

" There were three known clairvoyants in the company. Wliile the lecture was proceed- ■ 
ing, the sounds were heard apparently under the floor, near the speaker. The clairvoyant 
spoke of the rapiDings, and called them electrical vibrations, and said communications might 
be had from the spirit-world if a battery was formed. Inquiry beuig made how a battery 
could be formed, the reply was, ' By sitting around a table.' 

" The lecturer, with two other persons designated, seated tliemselves together at one 
corner of the table. Sounds were distinctly heard under the floor, directly beneath these 
persons. 

" The alphabet was called, and the word C^;-;?^// spelled, the sounds occurring as the letters 
were spoken in repeating the alphabet. 

"It was asked if it was the spirit of Mr. Cornell that communicated. Rap. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 349 

•* A few unimportant questions were then asked, when a ' manifestacion ' that startled the 
entire company was made. Suddenly the left arm of one of the ladies at the table was 
drawn back with great force, as if it had been gi-asped between the elbow and the shoulder. 
Several persons undertook to relieve the arm by magnetic passes, but without effect. 

" The inquiry was made, ' Is it the spirit of Mr. Cornell that afiects the lady ? ' Rap. 

" ' Will the spirit relieve her ? ' No sound. 

" But suddenly the arm was thrown forward, and the lady relieved. 

"We had been conversing with the lady during the day in reference to the manifesta- 
tions, and remarked to the company that she had said she should not believe the rappings 
were made by spirits unless some spirit should take hold of her. At this there were several 
raps near the lady, as if to signify that the spirit had made an effort to convince her. 

" The question was put, ' Will the spirit take hold of the lady again? ' No sound. 

"But the lady says that her fingers were pressed together as though a strong hand had 
grasped them. She describes the sensation on her arm as if it had been so vigorously 
pressed between the elbow and shoulder that she was unable to open or shut her hand. 

" We were satisfied at the time that the manifestation was not the effect of magnetism, as 
generally understood, because the muscles of the arm were not contracted ; the arm was 

merely drawn, or pulled back, as described On Tuesday and Wednesday 

the rappings were heard frequently at the house where Mrs. Bushnell stopped, and a large 
number of persons held conversations with the rappers. On Wednesday evening Mrs. 
Bushnell met a select circle at the house of Professor J. K. Buchanan, and communications 
were received by raps from the father of Dr. Buchanan, many years deceased, and from 
Dr. T. V. MoiTow, a few months deceased, formerly dean of the Eclectic Medical Col- 
lege. " 

Mr. Spicer, the author of a Httle work entitled " Sights and Sounds, or 
The Mystery of the Day," pubHshed about 1853, and purporting to be an 
account of the American spiritual manifestations, gives the following details 
of a seance with Mrs. Bushnell in Cincinnati ; 

" One circumstance is worth recording. A young lady of the assembled party inquired 
if any spirit would communicate with her. Distinct raps were given, and the following 
communication made : 

" ' I have done as I agreed.'' 

" Upon this the young lady, gi'eatly agitated, informed those present that she had been in 
Rochester with her sister when rapping manif^estations were being made in. the family of 
Mrs. Fish. They did not believe them to be spiritual manifestations, and when they parted, 
■ they mutually agi^eed that whichever died first should visit the other in spirit, and make 
raps, if it were possible. The sister went to Wisconsin and died. She had come to her 
sister in Ohio ui spkit, and fulfilled the promise made in the flesh." 

Mr. Spicer goes on to say : 

" The manifestations were now no longer confined to Mrs. Bushnell and her neighbor- 
hood, but rapidly spread over the city. One lady, a Miss B., residing in Cutter street, 
had frequently heard them, but had never attempted to communicate, and her fainily re- 
garded the mysterious sounds as forerunners of calamity. Another lady had heard them 
repeatedly before Mrs. Bushnell visited Cincinnati. Two 3'ears before a Miss A. had heard 
them so frequently that the family became alarmed, and endeavored by every means to 
ascertain their cause, but without effect. 

" Dr. William Owens, of the Eclectic Medical College, had also heard the sounds, and 
had received answers to mental questions from the spirit of a deceased friend. 

" Professor B. C. Hill received, by means of raps, what he considered to be a very im- 
portant communication in reference to medical science. 

' ' The persons alluded to are all of character and station in and about Cincinnati. 

"Besides these instances, several persons, while consulting Mrs. Bushnell for medical pur- 
poses, held communications with the sounds ; and it appears that, on account of the ridi- 
cule thrown upon such as were most intimately connected with the rapping manifestations, 
and because the curiosity they excited brought so many persons to her house, her practice 
Vi'as materially interfered with. Mrs. Bushnell decided positively, in the beginning of De- 
' cember, that she would, under no circumstances, place herself in a ' circle ' for the purpose 
of receiving manifestations, and, with a few exceptions of a private nature, adhered to her 
resolution." 



350 HISTORY OF MODERN 

The visit of the Misses Fox to Cincinnati, in 185 1, revived the interest 
which Mrs. Bushnell's withdrawal from pubhc circles had somewhat retarded. 

The clergy had been, as usual, particularly active in calling attention to the 
subject by a series of anathemas, which poured with such volubihty from the 
various pulpits of the city that it required other public demonstrations than 
Mrs. Bushnell's to inform the world what it was that so considerably exer- 
cised the wrathful spirit of these reverend followers of the meek and lowly 
Spiritualist of Nazareth. 

The Rev. C. B. Eoynton, of the Vine Street Congregational Church, and 
many of his compeers, acknowledged the power and its spiritual source, but 
insisted upon it that that source was demoniacal, whilst Professor Locke, of 
the Medical College, and his scientific associates, summoned up the ghosts 
of the defunct toe and knee joint theories to explain the mystery. 

Just as the reverend and scientific savans had concluded that the material- 
istic arguments of the one, and the unscientific fallacies of the other, had ex- 
ploded the whole thing, and that Spiritualism had died out, the tide of public 
opinion was turned back into spiritual channels again by the presence of the 
famous Rochester mediums. Of course they brought in their train the vul- 
tures which ever follow armies, Avhether of Avar or progression ; the birds of 
evil omen being in this instance ably represented by the indomitable Chauncy 
Burr, who vituperated his falsehoods before the public in one part of the 
city, whilst the Misses Fox were giving practical proofs of his mendacity in 
another. The contest of public opinion, as usual, raged high. 

The most distinguished persons in this city of wealth and collegiate institu- 
tions visited the circles, and many of them became developed as mediums ; 
the press, as usual, floated about between the strongest manifestations of pub- 
lic opinion, being invariably found on 'that side which happened to be most 
popular for the time being. 

One of the honorable exceptions to this accommodating spirit was Mr. J. 
D. Taylor, editor of the Daily Times, who generously opened his columns to 
both sides of the question, a course whose rarity claims an especial notice 
whenever practicable. 

During the visit of the Misses Fox, the old story of concealed machinery 
about their persons Avas revived, and once more, at their own earnest solici- 
tations, the clothing of the mediums was subjected to the searching scrutiny 
of a committee of ladies, after whose entirely favorable report, the manifes- 
tations proceeded with their usual freedom and power. 

Some two or three years after the visit of the Misses Fox, an article was 
published in the Cincinnati Daily Times, a few extracts from which may 
serve to show what was the result of their visit upon public opinion. 

"In the private arteries of our city, coursing with steady but powerful motion, there is 
an influence which lias assumed a most wonderful magnitude. The public mind discusses 
commercial policies, or agitates questions of the church militant, and heeds not tliis singidar 
movement. The press has been dumb, save in ridicule, and the great mass of the people 
little di-eam of the terrific social and moral volcanic eruption which- will necessarily occur 
ere long, from causes now impinging upon the combustible mental world. 

" But a short time since, the subject of 'spiritual rappings ' was introduced into Cincin- 
nati, and although it met with a cold reception, yet it made a deep impression on a few 
minds, and the seed has produced an immense yield 

" For some time after the introduction of the matter here, and when Coggeshall's history 
of the rappings in Cincinnati was published, there were but few believers in the spiritual 
theory, and v/hen Burr pretended to show up the humbug, many persons supposed that \X 
was exploded. But the popular mind was not satisfied, and a yet greater number com- 
menced inquiries. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 35 1 

" For a long time ' tlie Fox girls ' were the only persons publicly kno\A'n, in whose pres- 
ence the raps could be heard ; soon, however, mediums began to be developed in different 
portions of the city, and spiritual investigators increased. Men and women became ' insane, 
but that, instead of allaying the excitement, had quite the contrary effect. People were 
anxious to learn what this great cause was which had the effect to unbalance mmd ; and 
thousands, putting fuU confidence in then: own mental stability, sought the witnessing of 
spiritual experiinents. 

"The effect of this agitation has been most astonishing. We have taken careful notes 
of the present state of the movement, and the facts almost stagger belief. 

"It has been quite impossible for us to obtain full information, for many circles we found 
embosomed in private limits, and we learned of their existence by accident only ; of the 
seances held nightly which v/e know of, our list reaches fifty-nine. This, however, does 
not include hundreds of circles which are held occasionally, or by those who have just com- 
menced experimenting. The number of mediums whose names we could obtain is three 
hundred and ten, which does not include those partially developed. If this class were added, 
from information we have obtained, the number of mediums m Cmcinnati would not be less 
than twelve hundred. 

" The circles are not confined to any particular class of society, but are formed on every 
street and square of tire city. No particular religious sect is more interested than another ; 
but Christians, Jews, and Infidels, are earnest in their inquiries. The number of investiga- 
tors here can be estimated only by tens of thousands. So gi-eat has been the demand for 
the publications touching this subject, that one book concern, that of F. Bly, the blind phre- 
nologist, has confined its business almost entirely to this class of books. The number which 
has been \\Titten referring directly to the spiritual phenomena is thirty-five, and near a dozen 
newspapers and periodicals devoted to the investigation of -the subject, are issued in different 
parts of the Union, all of which find many eager purchasers in our city. Another evidence 
of the interest which is felt in this matter is exliibited in the fact that the Spiritual Beacoit 
commences its publication this week with one thousand city subscribers. 

"In the progress of this movement, the old system of communicating by raps has been 
superseded by yet stranger processes. In the beginning of the excitement it took a half- 
hour to obtain anything like a complete sentence by the raps, but then it was said that in a 
few years mediums would be developed who would talk and write under spiritual influence, 
and that period, it is alleged, has arrived. The raps are seldom heard, but physical demon- 
strations are frequently witnessed, which seem to indicate that the power of making noises 
and moving matter has not been abandoned. Numerous unquestionably authenticated oc- 
currences of this character have recently taken place, v.'hicli have had a tendency to draw 
several distinguished minds within the arena of spiritual investigation. We will mention a 
few of the most boldly defined cases of this class. 

"At a private circle in the western part of the city, the editor of a morning paper was 
carried, together with a table, upon which he sat, several times across the room, without 
there being any visible moving cause. A lady residing on Seventh street, whose daughter, 
a young lady, was sick with fever, called upon the spirits to cure her child, and desired 
that, to fully convince her of their power, the fever should leave one side at a time. The 
lady affirms that the right side of her daughter's face became pale and cold, while the left 
was burning with a raging fever,- but, after a few moments it also was relieved. 

"An ex-judge, on Fourth street, who had been ridiculing his wife for convening circles 
at their house, was prevailed on one evening to remain in the circle. He had always con- 
sidered the matter too foolish to investigate, and vauntingly remarked, during the evening, 
that if spiritual beings existed he would like to see them try their power on the centre-table, 
around which the party were sitting. No sooner had the expresssion escaped his lips than 
the top of the table was twisted from the column and rolled across the floor. This gentle- 
man, in a recent private note from Washington city, where he is now visiting, says that this 
subject is agitating our representatives. He whites of a circle which he attended the even- 
ing previous, wliere Senator Chase and Thomas Convin were present, and also Preston 
King, of New York, which latter gentleman was the medium. 

In the February number of Bicchanaii's yoii7-nal of Man, the editor gives apparent cred- 
ence to the story that a friend of his in this city has heard spirit voices. This is, perhapS; 
more wonderful than any of Plorace Greeley's statements in Putinan''s Monthly Maga- 
zine. 

" But to the communications. These are now generally made by the medium's arm being 
spiritually magnetized, and becoming obedient to spiritual direction in writing, or pointing 
out letters on a large alphabet; or, as is more frequently the case, after half an hour's quiet 
sitting in a circle of eight or a dozen persons, who form a battery by miiting their hands, 
the medium is magnetized, and, it is affirmed, taken possesion of by the spkits, who use her 



352 HISTORY OF MODERN 

organs of speech in talking to the company. These speeches are frequently of a most ex- 
traordinary character, representing, as they do, to come from the spirits of gi-eat men who 
have passed from eartli. A blue-eyed girl of seventeen, for instance, rises and in a 
vigorous manner discusses politics or religion with the logic of Henry Clay or the pathos of 
James A. Perkins. A man of forty speaks for John Wesley and Fourier, using, accurately, 
the manner of speech of those persons ; or, perhaps, the medium assumes the character of a 
near relative of some one in the circle, and although having been dead a great while, yet, by a 
familiar gesture, or may be an old by-word or sentence, the idea of the loved one is brou'^ht 
vividly to mind. 

" The 'revelations' through the mediums vary somewhat, yet all are of a radical charac- 
ter. They teach the overthrow of existing church organizations, and say that vital clianges 
must be made in the social and commercial world. The belief in the spiritual agency of 
these teachings being quite general, and becoming more so every day, the effect will be, as 
we previously stated, to form a great radical party, which will develop itself ere long, and 
astonish the world by its strength. ' ' 

Since the period we have been writing of, spiritual manifestations have 
steadily gained and maintained a foothold in Cincinnati, which justly entitles 
it to take rank as one of the great fortresses of the cause. Vast numbers of 
the most respected and respectable inhabitants of the city have become 
openly avowed partisans of its truths, and contributed most liberally of their 
influence, money, hospitality, and advocacy, for its promotion. 

Sabbath meetings for spiritual lectures and conferences have been held in 
Cincinnati for many years, and continued to engross the unabated interest 
of the thousands who attend them. Many most excellent public and private 
mediums have been developed in or attracted to Cincinnati, amongst whom 
v/e ma)^ name, as one of the most remarkable and reliable, Miss Lizzie Keizer, 
of whom a separate notice will be found hereafter. 

Many ladies of high social position in Cincinnati have used their fine medi- 
umistic gifts for the benefit of investigators with a liberality and public spirit 
which sets a noble example to a more conservative community in other places; 
in fact, the epithet of "Queen City" does not apply alone to its vast popula- 
tion, size, or commercial importance. 

Despite its thick atmosphere of coal and smoke, concentrated by an amphi- 
theatre of surrounding mountain ranges, the soaring spirit of a liberal and 
progressive community has given so warm and hospitable a reception to the 
angel visitors from the spheres, that Cincinnati may well be called a royal 
stronghold of Spiritualism. No more truly spiritualized gatherings have ever 
collected the focal rays of divine light Avhich stream down from the bright 
summer-land than those in which the author has taken part in Cincinnati. 

Looking down upon the upturned faces of a thousand eager listeners, who 
each Sabbath morning and evening have braved even the inclemencies of a 
Western winter to atteiid spiritual meetings, the speaker has been able to 
number thirty or forty bright mediumistic eyes gazing into the space around 
the rostrum filled with radiant spirit forms, whom the fair seeresses would 
often describe afterwards with a perfectly convincing coincidence of testi- 
mony. 

For many long years the President's chair was filled by the pure-minded, 
amiable, and highly resjjected Mr. Oliver Lovell, an old citizen, whose ven- 
erable face upturned in reverent appreciation of the truths he listened to then, 
and promulgates now as a ministering spirit, formed in itself a representa- 
tive picture of the fervent sincerity of these Ohio Spiritualists. His daughter, 
an accomplished medium, and a host of fair and refined women, leaders in the 
most fashionable societies of the city, might have been seen, busily arranging 
the details of their sweet volunteer choir, adorning the rostrum with flowers, or 
softly whispering to each other some tender message of immortal affection, 



AMERICAN- SPIRITUALISM. 353 

poured through their organisms by the quenchless love of dear spirit friends 
These were Pentecostal meetings, and it was light, life, and spiritual strength 
to be there. Many changes have ensued. In the locomotive spirit which 
sweeps the v/hole continent -with the waves of progress, choir, committee, 
speakers, and listeners, have moved away or exchanged places with others. 

The lecturers of half a score of years ago would gaze upon strange faces 
now, and but few of the old familiar hands are there to clasp their own in the 
warmth of ancient friendship. But the strength and potency of the cause has 
never changed with hands, faces, or the stirring times of war and political con- 
flict. Spiritualism is a fixed fact in Cincinnati, and warm hearts and willing 
hands are there, just as zealous in its belief as ever. The opportunities 
for successful effort have changed v>'ith the times, but Spiritualism, in its cause 
and effect, is just as firmly planted in this great Western centre as the eternal 
liills wliich garrison the city with towers and bastions pointmg to the skies, 

"Whose cloudy rifts and rents disclose, 
The angel faces of the watchers 
High above the city's murky depths; 
Holding in charge the woof of mortal weal, 
Averting, in love, the stings of human woe." 

Entrusted to the guardianship of bright ministering spirits, and upheld by 
the fidelity, gratitude and zeal of as warm-hearted a community as exists upon 
the surface of the western hemisphere, the flame of Spiritualism may flicker 
and bend in the winds of public opinion, but its past career seems prophetic 
of a future in Cincinnati as permanent as those same ancient hills which 
environ it. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



■WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED — ST. LOUIS. 

" Have you ever heard the rappings, 
Have you listened to the tappings, 
To the strange, mysterious clappings 

That are going on in town ? 
How the deuce it is they do it, 
Or what the clue is to it. 
No one knows, or can see through it. 

But it's done, and ' done up browTi."' 

Cleveland Plaindealer. 

St. Louis — The First Circle — Its Pioneers — Mrs. Britt — Visit of thk 
Misses Fox — The Jaw-Bone Theory and its " Sajison " — Soldiers of the 
Cause — Thomas Gales Forster's Development — A Pioneer in Hannibal 
Missouri — Spiritualism on the Prairies in 1S59 — Church Trial of Mr. 
Stagg, and What Came of it. 

St. Louis is one of those marked sectional centres from which a radiative 
influence streams forth, extending over an area of space and a mass of popu- 
lation far exceeding its own. 

Situated at the confluence of the might}'- Missouri and Mississippi rivers, 

the great south-western mart of the giant Ohio, and the ganglionic heart 

which unites all the vast railway enterprises which connect the north-west 

at Chicago and the extreme south at New Orleans, St. Louis is a geographi- 

23 



354 HISTORY OF MODERN 

cally-constituted capital, from whence tides of mental influence and po^ ular 
impression must inevitably sweep along with the heavy freights of commer 
cial power which constitute the wealth of this fine city. 

In the history of Spiritualism, then, St. l.ouis must either have played an 
important part, or the movement itself would have lacked the vast power in 
the West which has been attributed to it. The former is the case. St. I^ouis, 
like Cincinati, though far removed from the scene of the first public mani- 
festations of spirit communion, had internal resources which ])repared it for 
the reception of the tidings that the spiritual telegraph between the two 
worlds was open, and its workings explained an occult and hitherto unsolved 
mystery, which for many months had prevailed in St. Louis in the shape of 
phenomena evolved by a^nimal magnetism; Mesmeric operators, who had 
amused themselves with observing the singular and various results obtained 
by their experiments, had been continually perplexed and thwarted in their 
attempts to account for the flights of their subjects on purely mundane 
principles ; no sooner, however, did intelligence reach the city that disem- 
bodied spirits were assumed to be the authors of tangible manifestations made 
tlirough sounds and movements in Western New York, than an illuminating 
beam shot over the mysteries of animal magnetism, dividing it by but one 
"discreet degree" from the still more potent and subtle element of spiritual 
magnetism. 

The first circles held in St. Louis were formed at the suggestion of Mr. 
Hedges, now well known as a veteran soldier in the ranks of Spiritualism. 
Mr. Hedges had visited New York, heard and communicated with the won- 
derful rappings, and received some instructions for the formation of a circle. 
In these initiatory seances one of the members, Mrs. Amanda Britt, aftenvards 
Mrs. Spence, became developed as a trance-speaking medium, and her sub- 
sequent long and remarkable career as a spiritual lecturer renders this ex- 
periment memorable. The chief object of the early investigators was to 
evoke the famous rappings which seemed to be identical with the first and 
most convincing phases of "the power," but no sooner were they gratified in 
this respect than other and still more startling phenomena followed. Writing, 
speaking, and seeing mediums presented an array of intelligence which far 
transcended the slow methods of communicating through the raps. 

Wonderful tests of identity were often given by pantomimic action. Thus, 
at one of the circles, the spirit of a Mr. Owens, formerly the proprietor of a 
masonic hall, gave to some masons present, through an uninstructed woman, 
immistakable masonic signs. 

Meantime the visitors who attended these seances soon found that the same 
remarkable results they witnessed abroad could be obtained by sitting in their 
own homes and families ; and thus believers multiplied, and various phases of 
mediumship began to appear in some of the most intelligent and respectable 
families in the city. Whilst the Missourians were thus groping their way on 
through patient, but often very perplexing experiments, a Miss Anderson in 
the first place, and the Misses Fox shortly after, visited the city in the capa- 
city of public mediums, and in both instances communicated an irresistible 
impetus in favor of Spiritualism to the whole; community. 

During the stay of the Rochester mediums Dr. McDowell, the founder 
of an Anatomical College, and a man of profoundly scientific research, carried 
the ladies to his lecture-room, and pursued, through their mediumship, a series 
of scientific experiments which were sufficient to satisfy the spectators of the 
entirely occult force with which they were dealing. 

The mediums were stood upon glass, insulated, and tested in varieties of 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 355 

ways, with a view of inquiring how far electricity was concerned in the pro- 
duction of the phenomena. 

These experiments — • which ultiraated in convincing nine out of ten of the 
savans who assisted in them that there was a force more potent than an) 
known to man ; that said force was not in any possible way or shape the 
result of trickery, and yet generally connected itself with an intelligence 
foreign to the minds of the mediums — were in honorable contrast to the 
conduct of the clergy, who, in this city particularly, distinguished themselves 
by their violent and unchristian opposition to Spiritualism. 

A certain Dr. Coons attended some of the earliest circles for the rappings, 
and chancing to get the word "investigate" spelled wrongly, he concluded, 
— in what connection it would be difficult to say — that the whole thing was 
imposture ; and being a skilful anatomist, and withal a little ashamed of re- 
hashing up the knee and ankle bone theory, he gravely published to the 
world a scientific statement to the effect that " the whole thing was perforaied 
by the displacement of the jaw-bone." 

The raps continued, nevertheless ; spread from house to house, family to 
family, and threatened to increase ad infinitum : some of the spiritual press 
suggested that the jaw-bone theory was not so far wrong after all, only that 
it was, on the biblical plan, the jaw-bone of an ass, for the original of which 
the learned Dr. Coons was responsible, whilst Spiritualism was in very truth 
the " Samson" that knew how to wield it. 

Succeeding the Misses Fox and Miss Anderson, Mrs. Corwin, an excellent 
rapping medium ; Mrs. EversoU, a seeing, writing, test, and trance medium ; 
Mrs. Bland, the wife of a very distinguished law)'er in the city ; Mrs. Tanner, 
a lady of unexceptionable position ; Mr. Charles Levy, a gentleman occupy- 
ing a distinguished place as a public official ; Mr. James Neal, a merchant, 
who afterwards became a famous healing medium; Mrs. Frances Hyer, and 
other ladies and gentlemen too numerous to mention, all moving in the best 
circles, became rapidly developed for different phases of the power, and 
freely and frankly used their gifts for the benefit of all who required their ser- 
vices. Some special notice will hereafter be made of Mrs. Corwin and Mr. 
Levy as mediums ; in the meantime their aid, together with one of the best 
public rapping mediums in the country, Miss Sarah Jane Irish, for t^'o years 
a resident in St. Louis, contributed to offer facilities for investigation which 
converted thousands to the belief in an incredibly short space of time. 

Foremost amongst the earliest inquirers into the phenomena, and ever 
foremost in liberal and untiring service in its behalf, every Avell-informed Spir- 
itualist of America will be prepared to read the name of Mr. A. IMiltenberger. 
AVithout being a medium himself, Mr. Miltenberger is one of those devoted 
and self-sacrificing spirits, whose never-failing zeal seems able to propel on- 
ward any cause, by the mere specific gravity of its own resistless force. 

In a city -where so many noble gentlemen and gifted ladies have labored for 
the cause of Spiritualism with a fideUty almost unprecedented, it may seem 
invidious to select Mr. Miltenberger for markedly appreciative notice ; but 
the prominence Avhich his able and fearless pen has given him in ever}^ spirit- 
ual paper, no less than his unbounded liberality and devotion in every spirit- 
ual movement throughout the States, calls for this especial record. 

Perhaps it would be difficult to find any city of its size and influence in 
which so many prominent and influential persons have devoted themselves to 
the advocacy of Spiritualism, or where a more permanent and honorable sup- 
port has been extended towards its public advocacy. Spiritualism is undoubt- 
edly, everywhere, " the same spirit with differences of administration," but the 



35^ HISTORY OF MODERN 

position which it is to assume and maintain before the public must be sha^-ed 
measurably by human effort ; hence its remarkable success in St. Louis, and 
hence, in a merely philosophical point of view, we call special attention to the 
zeal and fidelity of its propagandists in that city. 

As early as 1852, a paper entitled Light from the Spirit- Worlds was pub- 
lished in St. Louis, of which Mr. Peter Bland was the editor, and Mr. Manz 
the publisher. This journal was short-lived, but as a timely record of spirit- 
ualistic facts and philosophy, it served an excellent purpose, and fanned the 
flame into wide-spread radiance. Besides the numerous circles, public and 
private, that were in operation, Mrs. Britt, by her remarkable lectures, first on 
Sunday evenings at her own house, and subsequently to large public audiences 
in hired halls, contributed essentially to the spread of the belief 

Conferences were held, too, for the presentation of facts and the discussion 
of opinions. Here, as in New York, they were open to the public, in halis 
hired by the Spiritualists. 

In the printing office of Mr. Josiah Anderson, a most noble and devoted 
champion of the cause, Mr. Thomas Gales Forster was developed as a me- 
dium, and as this gentleman is now known throughout the United States as one 
of the ablest and most eloquent speakers in the country, his conversion and 
enlistment in the ranks of mediumship becomes a record too eventful 
to omit. 

Mr. Forster commenced his investigations, Saul-like, by an acrimonious 
spirit of persecution, but ended, as above stated, by becoming one of the 
most renowned and admired exponents of the faith. 

At first his mediumship assumed the form ot poetical improvisation, and in 
seances with Mrs. Frances Hysr, a charming vehicle for inspirational poems, 
Mr. Forster would alternate with the lady, lines which, on being fitted together, 
formed appropriate and interesting compositions. Like Mr. Manz, the pub- 
lisher of Light from the Spirit-World, Mr. Forster' s newly acquired gift of 
improvisation enabled him to perform the journalistic feat of composing and 
setting up his ideas in type, as he received them from the source of his pro- 
lific inspiration. 

As the subsequent career of this celebrated speaker will be noticed here- 
after, it is only necessary in this place to remark that his public addresses in 
the trance condition, like, those of Mr. Britt, soon began to attract attention, 
and were esteemed as not the least wonderful of the phenomena of the 
day. 

Public lectures in St. Louis have always been a marked and attractive fea- 
ture of its Spiritualism, and it is worthy of notice that they commenced in 
1852 and continued, without interruption, until 1861, when the opening of 
the great American war and the fact that St. Louis, — indeed, the whole of 
Missouri, — became an agitated scene of the mighty war struggle, may account 
for their temporary suspension. 

Since the close of the war, lectures, conferences, circles, and the delightful 
gatherings of the Children's Lyceum, have proceeded with even more spirit 
and success than heretofore. 

Situated so far distant from the constellated intellectual centres of the East, 
it may be supposed that it was difficult to supply the rostrum with a selection 
of those popular speakers whose services were in such eager demand in New 
York, Boston, etc.; but the spirit and generosity of the Missourian gentlemen 
overcame this obstacle, and made it so well worth the while of the very best 
talent in the movement to visit St. Louis, that the rostrum was invariably 
filled by the most eminent and widely sought speakers in the field. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM, 357 

The advantage of tliisliberalpolicy was realized too in surrounding districts, 
which were industriously traversed and missionized, between their Sabbath 
appointments, by the speakers engaged in St. Louis. 

Thus it was that, in numbers of places, glad tidings of Spiritualism were 
proclaimed for the first time. 

An instance of this kind may be noticed in Hannibal, Missiouri, a beautiful 
mountain town on the Mississippi, where, about 1857, one openly avowed 
Spiritualist from Salem, Massachusetts, had taken up his residence. This 
gallant champion of an unpopular truth, sent to procure the services of the 
author, then fulfilling an engagement of some weeks in St. Louis. 

When Mrs. Hardinge arrived at Hannibal, the cold hospitalities of an hotel 
were all that could be secured for her accommodation. 

The three nights, lectures were given to audiences, the chief portion of 
whom were hid away on the stairs, or listening by stealth, concealed in some 
projection of the building. 

Scarcely a hand was extended to greet the stranger, whose presence, even 
in the streets, escorted by her devoted ally and employer, was regarded by 
some with ominous ill-will, and by others with a ludicrous terror which mani- 
fested itself in rapid flight. 

Two years later the same speaker visited Hannibal, when her entry mto the 
town was a perfect ovation. Hosts of friends came forward to greet her as 
their first pioneer into the glorious realms of spiritual realities. Prominent 
persons contended for the pleasure of entertaining her in their hospitable 
dwellings, and a numerous, attentive, and highly-interested audience, many of 
v/hom were Spiritualists, thronged her lecture halls night after night, until the 
largest building in the place was inconveniently crowded. A similar history, 
varied with many Avonderful evidences of spirit-power and presence, could be 
given of the whole range of towns and villages, extending up the length of 
" the Father of Waters even to St. Paul, Minnesota. 

On either side of the noble Ohio, down to Evansville, and the complete 
length of the Central Illinois and Chicago and Alton Railroads, romantic and 
startling Incidents of travel, rapid and wonderful developments of mediumis- 
tic powers, extraordinary cases of healing, and every phase of spiritualistic 
marval and interest, has marked the missionary efibrts of the author and her 
fellow-laborers in this section of country for a circuit of at least five hundred 
square miles. 

Wliole volumes could be filled with such records, 'and still the subject would 
not be exhausted, nor the half have been told of the truths which awoke the 
inhabitants of this vast region to a realization of Spiritualism. 

In favor of the argument of some natural philosophers, that climate, soil, 
and scenery, always produce correspondential psychical results, it must be 
admitted that, whereas, in this district, nature displays herself in such vast 
prairies, giant rivers, and grand proportions generally, Ave may well look for a 
mental Inspiration equally lofty, sublime, and far-reaching; and this phil- 
osophy is well illustrated in the characteristics of the Western country and its 
inhabitants. There is nothing small, petty, or grovelling In either. The 
clear air seems to promote the lucid vision of the seer, so that the golden 
portals of the summer land are constantly opening for him, and permitting 
bright, though transient gleams of its radiant dwellers to be seen. 

The forms of the glorified pilgrims from the other side of " the beautiful 
river" dance in shining shadows along the walls of these Western homes. 
Prophecy is remarkably rife there. Clairvoyant sight is open and frequent, 
and mighty winds of inspiration sweep over the wild praries, and surge along 



358 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

the flowing tides of the rivers, bearing aloft on their wings the sensitive and 
abnormal minds of those who stand as "footprints on the boundaries of two 
worlds," mediums for both, creatures of both, and alternately swayed by the 
mysterious influences which are born and tempered in both, but only meet in 
the strange and seemingly abnormal life of mediumship. Often, when quitting 
the pleasant and hospitable homes of St. Louis, the author has diverged, be- 
tween her Sabbath lectures, far awa.y to the prairie towns on missionary labors, 
the peculiar characteristics of Western Spiritualism have been revealed to her 
with striking prominence. 

Take, for example, a visit to a small town on the Chicago and Alton Rail- 
road, called El Paso. At the time of the author's visit, about 1859, this place 
could not have numbered more than six dwellings, and yet a fair and satisfac- 
tory audience was promised which was to be procured to attend the lecture 
in the following way. 

At five o'clock, p.m., the speaker was escorted to another town, of similar 
size to El Paso, about four miles distant. There hospitable entertainment 
was provided, and a number of recruits joined the party. At six o'clock the 
procession was formed, consisting of the buggy which conveyed the speaker, 
followed by four vehicles of nondescript shapes, and no particular name, 
except the generic title of " trap, " or wagon. Driving on in single file, for 
there was no other road than a beaten wagon track, the party kept gathering 
up additions along, about, across, and athwart their way, until, at seven 
o'clock, the train consisted of thirty vehicles, all a little more nondescript than 
the first. ■ 

About this time, night set in, bringing with it a fine, drizzling rain. The 
usual metaphor of " too dark to see your hand before you," was literally ■Veri- 
fied ; but whilst another hour was consumed in reaching the place of destination 
and gathering in fifteen more wagon-loads of the faithful, the speaker, who rode 
in front of the long train, successfully guided the party by repeating the direc- 
tions conveyed now to her illuminated eyes by the beckoning hand of some 
bright spirit watcher, and now through the low whisper of a spirit voice bid- 
ding her turn to the " right"," " left," or in such a course as would insure their 
safe travel in that thick darkness, which naught but the e3'es of the spirit 
could pierce. And thus they journeyed"* on, safely and surely, to their 
destination, a large school-house in the midst of the prairie, where they 
arrived, as the spirits promised, exactly as the hour of eight apjDeared on 
the dial plate. 

There was neither gas nor ordinary appliances for lighting this primitive 
seat of learning, hence an illumination was improvised from the lanterns of 
some of the party, suspended on sticks, branches of trees, and sportsmen's 
rifles, placed gipsy-fashion across each other, and sustaining the lantern in the 
middle. 

If the rude scene, the devotion manifest in the upturned faces of the list- 
eners, cast into wondrous lights and shadows by the glare of the lanterns, and 
the sighing of the mournful night winds whistling through the crevices of the 
log house, could not magnetize the susceptible speaker into unusual inspira- 
tion, even the power of her attending guardian spirits would have failed." But 
both causes wrought their full efliect, and the lecture was a Pentecostal hour 
to speaker and audience alike. Spirit friends, dear beloved companions, 
once deemed dead and gone, were there, revealing their tender living pres- 
ence to the eyes of the seers, and whispering words of comfort into the ears 
of the entranced. 

When all was over, and the last question was pr<)pounded and answered, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 



35$ 



and the last affectionate farewell, and cordial " God bless you," was spoken, 
the party separated, once more penetrating into the thick darkness of the prairie, 
swollen into pits and quagmires by the winter rains, and the El Paso line of 
march was resumed, steering their way back as they came, the author finding 
their track by the inspiration of her guardian spirit, and the rest of the party 
keeping up the thread of connection by a long-drawn chorus of sweet songs, 
the burden of which was "There's rest for thee in Heaven." 

hX. length the choral resonance grew faint and yet more faint, as, one after 
another, the spirit-led wanderers struck off into divergent tracks, until the low 
murmuring of a sweet quartette subsided before '" the light in the window " 
of the ghospitable mansion which sheltered the speaker's party for the 
night. 

And many and many a golden evening sun has set across the vast wastes of 
the prairies, to leave a starless night brightened by such spiritual midnight 
sunshine as these wald wanderings evoked. Hundreds of similar and often 
far more perilous journejdngs the author and her co-laborers have undertaken 
in the progress of Western Spiritualism ; but the darkest night has always 
been illumined by the spiritual sun for them, the longest journey made 
smooth and pleasant, the most intricate path discovered, and the fiercest 
tempests calmed, by an angel's glorious presence and tender, watchful care. 

Never have the eternal pillars of cloud and fire shone more radiantly be- 
fore the eyes of mortality then in the spiritual medium's wild, unwearied 
wanderings in the land of the far West. 

But, to return to St. Louis. In the month of July, 1853, an interest, 
amounting to great excitement, prevailed on the subject of a church trial 
instituted by the pastor and subordinate officials of the Second Baptist Church 
in St. Louis, in which Mr. Henry Stagg, one of the members and a distin- 
guished citizen, was accused of heresy, or a belief in the doctrines of Spirit- 
ualism. 

The trial, which Avas marked with circumstances of unparalleled bigotry 
and bitterness, opened with a citation to Mr. Stagg to appear before the 
authorities of the church, who claimed to hold their members' consciences, no 
less than their souls' welfare, locked up in the narrow archives of this little 
sectarian association. At the meeting where Mr. Stagg was to be formally 
arraigned, it was decided, contrary to the usual rules of their organization, that 
the strangers present should withdraw ; also that Mr. Stagg should not be 
allowed to enter into a defence of liis views, such a course " being out of 
usage in Baptist churches." 

Much discussion arising on these questions, the meeting was adjourned. 
From a pamphlet published by Mr. Stagg in which the whole trial is reported 
in full, we find that at this adjourned meeting, and contrary to "2^!)^ former " usage 
in Baptist church meetings^' where the doors had always been open to the 
public, the strangers present, which meant about half a dozen Spiritualist friends 
of Mr. Stagg, were warned to quit the building. After much warm discus- 
sion on this point, the "moderator" directed that a committee should wait 
upon the strang'ers and ask their names and reasons for desiring to be present, 
when the following report w'as hastily drawn up amongst them : 

"P. E. BLAND'S REASON FOR REMAINING. 

"First. Because lie believes lie is here of right, the doors of the church being open on 
occasions of this kind. He has not been informed that his impression in this respect was 
erroneous. Second. Being here of right and requested to leave, he did not do so, because 



360 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

he believed the request wrong, and he is not accustomed to do what he deems wrong be- 
cause requested to do so. Tliird. If he is wrongfully here, he will leave when the wrong is 
made apparent. 

"WILLIAM H. MANZ'S REASONS. 

" I entered to see manifestations of that charity which Christ taught while on earth. 
My friend, Mr. Stagg, has been charged with entertaining certain doctrines called by the 
church erroneous. With him I believe in these doctrmes, and with him I desire to see 
them refuted. 

"A. S. Whitby also subscribed to the above reasons. 

"JOHN SQUIRES' REASONS. 

" I am attracted here by the love of truth ; and as I regard truth universal and for all, I 
have desired to hear it defended, by error being exposed ; and now as you claim to be the 
light of the world, and as I am of the world, I hope you will not deprive me of the 
great privilege of your light, by putting it under a bushel. 

*' Mr. Charles Levy replied in substance, that he did withdraw when first requested to do 
so ; but as he had heard some veiy harsh epithets applied to them as they v»"ere in the act 
of withdrawing, he had concluded to return again, and hear what the result might be." 

It need hardly be stated that the perusal of these reasons did not tend to 
allay the bitterness of Christian wrath'; on the contrary, the feeling waxed so 
strong against the strangers, that, fearing they should only prejudice their 
friend's cause and delay the proceedings, they departed, and the meeting 
again adjourned. 

The sum of all, however, was the final condemnation and expulsion of Mr. 
Stagg from fellowship with his Christian brethren, the reverend pastor dis- 
missing the lost sheep in these afiecting words : "He [the pastor] was aware 
that it was always dangerous to listen to error, and hoped that those present, 
and especially the young, would take v/arning by Mr. Stagg and not go after 
these spirits or have anything to do with them, or read any of their writings, 
but to hold fast by the faith they professed. That he now regarded Mr. Stagg 
like a barque without chart or compass, in the midst of the ocean, and 
witli nothing but the dim light of nature to guide him, which, he said, put him 
more in mind of a fire-fly flitting about in the dark, than anything else." 

After this terrible exordium and the awful condemnation of being excluded 
from fellowship with the Second Baptist Church of St. Louis, it may be some 
consolation to sympathizing readers to know that Mr. Stagg has continued to 
go after those spirits ever since, with daily increasing satisfaction to himself, 
and benefit to his friends and the public advocacy of free thought in St. Louis ; 
and though, for full fifteen years later, Mr. Stagg has had nothing but the '• dim 
light of nature to guide him," that feeble fire-fly has conducted him into the 
honor, afiection, and respect of all wlio know him ; into financial prosperity 
and family joys ; and seems still to promise fair to steer that deserted barque 
into the glorious haven "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the 
weary are at rest." 

We regret that our space will not allow us to insert Mr. Stagg' s answer to 
the clerical and Christian brethren, who denounced " the coveting after Spir- 
itual gifts," and obedience to the charge "not to quench the spirit," as a 
crime. It is a document replete with unanswerable arguments and logical 
exposition of the very scripture on whose authority his condemnation was 
supposed to rest, but which aflorded him, as it has done thousands of others, 
the most irrefragable proof that the true believer and follower of Christ must 
be a true Spiritualist. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 36 1 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

WESTERN SPIRITUALISM — ST. LOUIS (CONTINUED). 

" I am a preacher come to tell ye truth ; 
I tell ye too there is no time to be lost ; 
So fold your souls up neatly, while ye may, 
Direct to God in Heaven ; or some one else 
May seize them, seal them, send them, you know where." 

Lucifer and Festus. 

Western Lectures — Dr. Rice and the Spiritualists — Thorns in the Flesh 
— The Order of "Patriarchs" — The Order of "Angelites" — "An- 
gelic" Law, Order, and Poetry — More Bursting Bubbles — The Price 
OF Credulity. 

All the spiritual speakers of eminence have lectured ^^'ith acceptance and 
general interest at St. Louis. Judge Edmonds, Thomas Gales Forster, 
Thomas L. Harris, R. P. Ambler, and J. S. Finney were amongst the earliest 
male lecturers who succeeded in attracting large audiences to hear the claims 
of Spiritualism discussed upon evidence which was constantly confirmed at 
the numerous circles held in the city. 

Besides the ladies whose names have already figured in these pages, two 
special favorites of the refined St. Louis Spiritualists were Miss Mattie 
Hulett and Miss Bell Scongall, both very young and interesting members of 
respectable families in Rockford, Illinois. 

Although purely "Western lecturers," and with no experience of the intel- 
lectual circles at the East, these young ladies' discourses have been pro- 
nounced "miracles of eloquence, logic, and beauty." 

They were both trance mediums of the highest order, and some of their 
published lectures transcend for depth of thought and purity of diction, many 
of the most elaborately prepared utterances of accomplished ecclesiastics. 

Stimulated by their gro\xing success and the remarkable powers of their 
speakers, the Spiritualists of St. Louis issued a bold challenge to the Rev. 
Dr. N. L. Rice, a famous debater and minister of the Presbyterian denomi- 
nation, to enter upon a public discussion of the theory of Spiritualism with 
Mr. J. S. Finney. The Spiritualists laid down twelve propositions, which they 
intended to defend, explanatory of their theory, inviting Dr. Rice to disprove 
or answer them. To this the doctor replied in a long but somewhat con- 
temptuous epistle, declining the debate and repudiating the Spiritualists' claim 
to any definite position, either in philosophy or religion. The Spiritualists 
retorted with an admirable and pungent review of the reverend gentleman's 
letter, and here the correspondence temiinated, but its publication created 
immense interest and promoted a general desire to inquire further into the 
real claims of Spiritualism. Meantime, it must not be supposed that the 
course of this mighty current could be permitted to run any more smoothly 
in the far West than in the busy and litigious East. Many " thorns in the 
flesh," hard to bear, from time to time harassed the action of the common- 
sense and intelligent portion of the Spiritualists, and many a buffet of that 
Satan which dwells in every heart, they were compelled to endure, from the 
follies, indiscretions, and fanaticisms of the "S])iritists," who believed in the 
phenomena, but had not yet learned to apply it sufficiently to have become 
true "Spiritualists." 



3(^2 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

The reader will remember the visit of Mr. John M. Spear, to St. Louis, as 
described in a former chapter, and hence be prepared to learn that a very- 
considerable check to the enthusiasm of believers, and the success of their 
propaganda, was experienced tlu-ough this gentleman's eccentricities, and the 
imitations which grew out of his remarkable example. 

« Amongst other sources of " trouble in the camp" was the formation of 
two societies, neither of which originated in St. Louis, though both communi- 
cated their baleful influence to the cause there. 

The first took rise in Cincinnati, and was entitled "The order of Patriarchs." 
It was a secret society, claiming to be of spiritual origin, and ramifying widely 
throughout the country, extending as far as Maine and New York, and estab- 
lishing branch societies even in the remotest portions of the South. Its prin- 
cipal centre of operations, however, was in the West, where, radiating from 
its starting point, Cincinnati, it numbered many thousands of members, using 
that word for v/ant of a better; for to say "disciples," votaries, or believers, 
would be totally inapplicable in reference to an association which based itself 
upon nothing in particular, taught only vague generalities, and amounted, in 
all, to the same as it arose from, namely, nothing. 

The fact, however, that its organization involved the mysticism of a secret 
society, and flattered the empty-minded and puerile by official appointments, 
dignities, and regalias, formed features of attraction which captivated the fancy 
of thousands, whilst the hope that the mystery might inclose some germ of 
real usefulness and beauty, induced-many, even of the best and most thought- 
ful Spiritualists, to join its ranks. 

Fortunately for the cause of truth, though unhappily for the success of 
those who amied at spiritual power and dignity through this i:iotable associa- 
tion, it soon began to be confidently affirmed that some of its chief promoters, 
high and distinguished " patriarchs " of modern times, were persons whose 
proclivities peculiarly fitted them to assume that lofty title, in one sense at 
least, seeing that they had already begun to imitate the example of their 
venerable prototypes on the marriage question, and probably designed to 
inaugurate Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as models for the basis of a new social 
order, in which the household arrangements of these honored personages 
were to be held up as patterns for the nineteenth century gentiles. 

The writer, having been herself a hierophant in the order, stimulated to 
the inquiry into its resources by the hope of discovering some kernel of 
wheat mixed up with a vast mass of superincumbent chaff, feels qualified to 
pronounce upon its merits, and could have underta.ken to assure the commu- 
nity of its perfectly innoxious character, as far, at least, as folly and supersti- 
tion can ever be harmless, but the world, outraged by the fact that some 
amongst the most distinguished of the "Patriarchs" were openly avowed con- 
temners of all that was sacred in social or religious life, insisted upon fasten- 
ing the characters of the propagandists on the order. 

In the Age of Progi'css for 1856, the editor gives, on his own responsibil- 
ity, a version of the origin of this society, which, together with his comments, 
we shall present to the reader in the following extracts : 

"THE ORDER OF THE PATRIARCHS. 

" No plant whose seed has been sown in the soil of earth, has ever groAvn so luxuriantly, 
or loaded the atmosphere with such rich aroma, as that of Spiritualism. But when we come 
to look about, even in those fields where it gi-ows the most rapidly, we discover among it, 
rank weeds, the seeds of which must have been sown by some enemy, who cannot bear to 
see others enjoy that for which he has no taste himself. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 2)^% 

"A short distance from where we stand, we see a large number of these noxious plants, 
with their crests waving above the level of the spiritual growths among which tliey stand. 
This species is called the ' Order of the Patriarchs.' On each of these weeds is something 
in the shape of humanity, who claims to be a Spiritualist, but who cannot bear to have his 
head even with his surrounding brethren and sisters, and hence, his aim seems to be to at- 
tain to a little eminence, that he may look clown upon the common plane and feel exalted. 

" It is a lamentable fact that there are large numbers of Spiritualists, in various locali- 
ties in the country, to whose palates Spiritualism, in its simplicity, is becoming stale and 
nauseating, youthful and beautiful as it is. These, impelled by the aspirations of vanity, 
have essayecl to elevate themselves a few inches above tlie heads of their peers, by the estab- 
lishment of a secret order, which, of course, is to be the nucleus of a sect, to be characterized 
by all the bigotry, intolerance, and hatred which now rankle in the bosoms of one orthodox 
Christian sect towards another. 

" As well as we can gather the history of this new form of an old idea, it is as follows : 
Sometime within the last two years, a man, whose name, if we ever heard it, did not write 
itself on our memory, being a citizen of Cincinnati, received direction — so he affirmed — 
by impression, or otherwise, to go to some other locality in the city than that which he was 
in, where he would meet with a person, who would give him further instructions respecting 
the performance of some duty that lay before him. He repaired to the spot indicated, 
where, to his surprise, he found a residence which he knew not existed in that locality 
before. 

" He opened his eyes in amazement, for it appeared to him that the mansion he saw 
must be of the genus fungi, as it must have sprung "up with mushroom rapidity of growth. 
Though somewhat disconcerted at this seeming evidence of magic, he ventured to pull at the 
be)l-knob, which soon brought to the door a gentleman of venerable appearov.ce, as all such 
ghostly personages are, who hesitated for a moment, apparently assuring himself, through 
his interior perceptions, what manner of man it was who demanded admittance to the inte- 
lior of that enchanted castle. 

"Arriving at the necessaiy conclusion, the venerable gentleman directed him to return to 
his own residence, where he would find that which would further instruct him m the duties 
which were reciuired of him. 

" Obedient to the mandate of duty, he put himself in retrograde motion, and soon arrived 
at his own door. And oh ! reader, what do you think he found there ? Was it an ' infernal 
machine,' designed to send him to kingdom-come on the back of a torpedo ? 

" No — his interior self told him not to fear, for there was nothing but good intended him 
— it was a box, longer one way than it was broad the other ; and he valiantly stepped up to 
it and found it to bear the marks of Adams's Express, and addressed to himself Courage ! 
exclaimed the voice v/ithin him — not the box — and he boldly tore it open. What was 
there? It was a marble slab, all honey-combed with perforations! What he was to do 
with the present, was, for a time, exceedingly puzzling to his mind. But it was not long tiU 
'impression' came to his relief, and sent him to consult a distinguished gentleman of the 
city, who was a well-known and leading Spiritualist. 

" The two met, and, after consultation, agreed to refer the matter to the spirits, through 
the mediation of a claii"voyant, who resided in the same house with the gentleman appealed 

to. 

" This reference was to be made without giving the clairvoyant any inkling of the cir- 
cumstances in his normal state. This was done, and the contents of the box were described, 
and the perforations of the slab declared to be a language destined to be taught to the 
human family. A key to this language was also given, together with instructions as to 
forming a secret organization (the grand arcanum of the whole thmg) under the title of 
'The Order of the Patriarchs.' 

"From different sources we glean scraps, which, when collected and put together, make 
an aggregate of character that presents this corner-stone of spiritual sectarianism as one 
of those abominations which, above all things, are to be eschewed and deprecated by aU 
who aspire to that purity and spiritual elevation which tutelary angels commend as the 
means of obtaining happiness here and the road to a blissful immortallLy in the life to come. 
Among these scraps we find the following : 

" The hieroglyphical perforations in the slab comprise a language which is to be doled out 
to the mitiated as fast as they progi'ess from degree to degree. They have, in this secret 
order, degrees, as they have in all other secret orders ; and members in each degree attain 
to a knowledge of the slab-language which they had in the degree next below. 

"The perforations in the slab arenot stationary, but miraculously changeable, so that they 
will admit of infinite variations ; hence, the mysteries are endless. The moral teachings of 
the slab-language, as we learn, embrace that of ' free love,' in its most revolting form. 



364 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

"It teadies that the marriage contract should be regarded as a mere rope of san . Any 
man or any woman may repudiate it at will ; and one of the fundamental principles incul- 
cated by this holy stone, is, that ' all women have a right, under all circumstances, to choose 
for themselves who shall be the fathers of their children ; and that all men, without regard 
to any covenant engagement previously entered into, may become such fathers whenever 
the animal love-passion is reciprocal in its prompting.' 

" We admit that these descriptions cannot be otherwise than disgusting to the reader, but 
we cannot excuse ourselves from the duty of exposing, as far as our information goes, the 
character of this carbuncular excrescence, which is about to attach itself to the body of 
Spiritualism. 

" Finally, we call upon every Spiritualist, male and female, who loves the sacred cause in 
which they are engaged, to use every influence in their power to guard against the approach 
of this monster. There is leprosy in every part of its body ; and death — moral and spiritual 
— will be ever close on its track. 

"Let those who have already thrown themselves into the pool of moral pollution follow those 
mock Abrahams, Isaacs, Jacobs, to infamy and to death ; but let those who prize purity and 
spiritual truth for their intrinsic value avoid them as they would the sirocco, on whose wing 
the pestilences ride, and in whose breath are concentrated all the deadly poisons." 

To the scathing remarks of the editor above quoted we would reply that 
the position of openly-avowed " free loveism," if it was read at all on the 
mysterious slab, was one of the doctrines which happened to have temporarily 
withdrawn itself, on all such occasions as the author perused its mysterious 
hieroglyphics. 

The evil reports which connected themselves with its leaders, might have 
been sufficient to account for evil opinions respecting the order, without the 
supposed revelations of the shifting hieroglyphics. Be this as it may, the 
society soon sunk into the obscurity from which it originated, and, though its 
existence involved some loss of character, time, and funds, for the mainte- 
nance of its superstitious rites, still, it served as a temporary check to the 
fervid enthusiasm of those Spiritualists whose expectations of an immediate 
millennium, were constantly being excited, and was one amongst a thousand 
similar warnings, that if ever the time arrives for a concrete organization of 
Spiritualism, it must be when each integral atom is sufficiently purified to 
take its place as a fitting associate of the general mass, not when the general 
mass is expected to purify the atoms. 

The next associative movement which we shall notice as exercising a tem- 
porary influence on the progress of Spiritualism in St. Louis, is one of th^ 
most extraordinary evidences of human folly, credulity, impudent assump 
tion, and blasphemous pretension, that the records of any movement can 
show. Though not originating, or even directly connecting itself with Spirit- 
ualism, it has been so constantly attributed to this source, and claims to deal 
so largely with the denizens of a spiritual world, that it cannot, with propriety, 
be omitted from this history. 

The first public notice that the society of which we are about to speak, at- 
tracted to itself, arose from the issue of a little paper entitled 'I he Thcocraf, 
published at Harmony Springs, Benton County, Arkansas, where it was claimed 
that about forty persons had located on a fine tract of four hundred and eighty 
acres of land, owned by, or at least under the control of, an ex-Methodist 
minister, of the name of Spencer, who, with his wife, claimed to be the found- 
ers and leaders of the movement. 

The association was sometimes called the "Harmonial Society," and still 
more frequently, though perhaps in ridicule, "The Angelites." Mr. Spencer, 
with the self-appointed degree of Doctor, was at one time known as a practi- 
tioner of medical electricity in St. Louis. Here he acquired some reputatioa 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 365 

for his success in psychologizing, or temporarily impressing his subjects by the 
force of his quiet, but singularly stubborn will. 

After a while, it was rumored that he had succeeded in inducing several 
persons of wealth and respectable position to join him in the purchase of a 
large tract of land in Arkansas, where it was designed to form a society, the 
external basis of which maybe gathered by a perusal of the following extracts 
from a circular, issued some time after certain wealthy dupes had actually 
inaugurated, by their presence and money, the commencement of the asso- 
ciation. 

"TO APPLICANTS. 

"The Harmonial Society was organized by angelic direction, December 25, 1S55, 
which angels still preside over it, and will ever continue to do so, as long as their teachings are 
respected and their order observed. Their wisdom is miimpeachable, and their mtegrity 
is beyond suspicion. They seek not money, but men and women, whose spiritual aspira- 
tions draw them into harmonial relations with each other, fonning one common brother- 
hood, where angelic wisdom and order can be freely unfolded. 

They seek not the worldly-wise, nor the rich, because they are rich, but those whose love 
for truth is stronger than that for gold; and such, though poor and milearned in worldly 
wisdom, are not rejected. 

" Our manner of receiving members is not unlike that of the Harmonial Christians in the 
early days of Christianity ; that is, each member or applicant places in the treasury all 
rtoneys, or property of whatsoever kind tohich they may possess, to be employed for the 
benefit of the society, or remain as a standing fund to meet, if necessary, any future con- 
tingencies. This union is perpetual, and no property can ever be taken from the society and 
used for selfisli or isolated purposes outside of the interests of the society. The home can 
never be sold, except by special direction of our guides, whose wisdom is a safe light to 
direct us for all coming time 

" Our views of marriage are peculiar to ourselves. We believe in conjugal union, which 
union is, and should be, perpetual ; that is, a man should have but one wife, a woman should 
have but one husband, as such. Yet all are free to enjoy the society of each other as 
brothers and sisters, without the withering curse of jealousy on the part of any, for purity 
alone can dwell in this society. Conjugal union is indispensable to the proper and natural 
reproduction of the human species ; and even with conjugal pairs, reproduction is unadvis- 
able, until our bodies are renovated by the adoption of a proper course of regimen and 
hygiene requisite to good health, a sound constitution, and consequent longevity, and our 
spirits resurrected from the gi'oss element of selfishness and cold isolation, which conditions 
are necessary to the reproduction of tlie legitimate children of truth. The enjoyment of 
conjugal life is by no means prohibited, but all are instructed how to prevent the re- 
production of their species, except at will, and by special advice of our guides to do so. 
If, however, any should fall into etror by mistake, they are dealt with in a loving and 
lenient mannei", so as to produce the most perfect offspring that their present conditions of 
purity M'ill admit of. But it should be borne in mind that imperfect conditions produce 
imperfect offspring, and also, that perfect conditions produce perfect offspring. Here is 
the commencement of all true reform 

" All applications for membership are submitted to the wisdom of our guides, and whoso- 
ever they receive we receive. 

"Now, if the foregoing meets with your approbation, and you feel solicitous of becom- 
ing one with us in this great and heavenly-appointed harmonial life, health, and happiness, 
please send in your application, in writing, giving your name and the names and number of 
your family, whom you expect to bring with you, together with a true statement of your 
pecuniary affairs, the amount of debts outstanding or incoming, the amount of real estate, 
money, personal property, etc. All these should accompany your written application, 
which will be immediately submitted to the wisdom of our guides, and an answer forwarded 
by return of mail. 

" Please accept our sincere regards, and believe us your brother and sister in all truthful 
reform. T. E. Spencer. 

Martha Spencer. 

"Address, T. E. Spencer, Harmony Springs, Benton County, Arkansas." / 

Over and above the information conveyed in this circular touching the 



366 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

pretensions of the "principal," or rather the only mediums, Dr. and Mis. 
Spencer, the substance of the following statements were made by these par-' 
ties to sevei'al persons outside the society, including the author herself. 

They declared that they had once been Spiritualists, but had progressed 
into far brighter planes of communion tlian those open to the general 
body of believers. They found that about nine-tenths of " the spirits" that 
passed into the sphere after death were not in reality immortal ; that many 
human souls perish at the death of the physical body, whilst a few others 
survived its dissolution, but after maintaining a short ]:)arasitical existence by 
preying on the emanations of human beings, gradually melted away, died out 
" the second death," and became absorbed in the great ocean of spiritual 
existence. 

Meantime it was claimed that a very small percentage of the race — to Avit, 
individuals who had lived on earth in a strict conformity with such laws of 
life, health, and doctrine, as were promulgated at Harmony Springs — had 
entirely survived the shock of earthly dissolution, and attained to the 
glory of immortality : how they had managed to arrive at this desirable state 
without the aid of the Spencers, male and female, was never quite clearly 
explained. 

One of the conditions, however, was affirmed to be a purely vegetarian diet, 
and that doled out in exceedingly minimum proportions. Of course there were 
some illustrious exceptions made in favor of the Bible worthies, who had all 
managed to get into the Spencer Heaven, despite their meat-eating propensi- 
ties; but then they lived a long time ago, and it might be presumed that 
Heaven had become more exclusive as its population mcreased, especially as 
the example of John the Baptist, who was assumed to hold a very distin- 
guished place in eternity, could no longer be imitated, from the scarcity of 
locusts as an article of daily consumption. 

. The relations sustained between the angelic survivors of the wreck of hu- 
man spirituality and the highly-favored Arkansas mediums, was a very curious 
one. 

They were, as the parties declared, "angels," not "spirits" merely; and 
when they chose to leave their heavenly abode, they walked aljout earth in 
such strictly human form and costume that they were constantly encountered 
in the streets and mistaken for ordinary mortals. The lady alleged that these 
"angels" brought them gold, silver, bank bills, and wearing-apparel ; the latter 
not made up, however, leaving the inference that there were no angelic dress- 
makers or tailors in Heaven ; and in proof [ ? ] of her assertion, she pointed to 
the garments she wore, declaring that the Parisian shawl, dress, and bonnet, in 
which she was attired had been brought her at sundry times by "angels," and 
certain pieces of gold, Avhich she produced from her pocket, came from the 
same inexhaustible source. No explanation was offered of the uses to which 
the large sums cast into the general treasury by confiding disciples Avere put, 
nor did it appear what share the angels took in the labors of the home and 
farm, which the Spencers declared were wholly superintended by the said 
angels, though invisibly, either in person or effect, to any eyes than those of 
these illuminated seers. 

The most tangible facts that came under public notice with reference to 
these people and their very large statements were, that they had induced some 
thirty families of wealth, respectability, and intelligence, to join them, and that 
they were affirmed to exert an almost unlimited infiuence over their votaries, 
especially in the case of two or three persons, whose sound sense, talent, and 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 367 

more than ordinary reputation for judgment, gave the community of St. Louis 
confidence that there must be some value in the movement. 

One part of their doctrine was that the human body should never die, and 
never would, except man violated the laws of his being, i. e., by living outside 
of Harmony Springs and its doctrines. 

Again, it was claimed that the whole race should live in universal brother- 
hood, especially on the community of property and social rights question, and 
that when mortals became sufiiciently sublimated, by the Spencerian pro- 
cess, to throw off all the grossness of their natures, they would be clothed 
with pure spiritual bodies ; live when, where, how, and as long as they pleased ; 
become invisible at will; in short, be like the "angels," or the ancient Rosi- 
crucians, of whom these modern harmonialists were obviously an effete sort of 
paraphrase. 

The above is a summary of their doctrines, as exhibited to the world, rep- 
resented in their own verbiage, and put forth in their ephemeral tract, entitled 
the Theocrat. 

For some time a curiosity, amounting to real interest, was manifested in con- 
nection with the " Angelites," but after a few years of their mysterious existence, 
dark rumors issued from the angelic camp ; threats of a portentous character 
were heard both from within and without the abode of harmony; and at last 
the bubble burst in the flight of the Spencers with all the property they could 
lay hands on, and their subsequent arrest and imprisonment at the instance of 
some of the enraged brethren who had been audaciously swindled out of large 
sums of money. 

When the whole matter came to be the subject of public investigation, it 
proved that Spencer had pretended to purchase the property in the name of 
the community, but had, in reality, so perplexed the title and misrepresented 
its value, that those who had invested thousands of dollars in the undertaking, 
could not recover above fifty or a hundred, whilst many deluded families came 
out of the affair penniless. 

An expose of the internal arrangements discovered a condition of impudent 
assumption and psychological subjugation on the part of the disciples to the 
powerful will of the master-spirit of the swindle, almost incredible. 

It seemed that, at first, the two pretenders who had founded the enterprise 
exerted an unlimited sway over their dupes. They made them perform the 
most laborious tasks and menial ofiices; eat meagre food, bad in quality and 
small in quantity ; submit to extravagant and painfully minute directions for 
the time and mode of performing every act of life ; rise, go to bed, pray, and 
even think, according to the most absurd and t}Tannical rules, and all, under 
the horrible impression that in this way only could they be exempt from the in- 
evitable doom of annihilation, and attain to angelic perfection ; and m the mean- 
time, their tyrants eat, drank, and acted exactly as they pleased, because they 
had attained to the ajigelic perfection which absolved them from further respon- 
sibility. 

At last, as in the famous Mountain CoA^e movement, the demagnetizing 
process set in, and the depsychologized dupes, awaking from 'their fanatical 
dream of mesmeric influence and visionary enthusiasm, beheld themselves 
stripped of their earthly possessions and in the power of a pair of arrant swin- 
dlers, whose ignorance and impudence were on an equal parallel. The result 
of this dreadful awakening was manifest in scenes of perpetual discord and vio- 
lent contention. Whenever unruly spirits broke forth into these scenes of 
opposition. Dr. Spencer had corrective communications from "the angels," 
and Mrs. Spencer fell into fits, spasms, and convulsions, which required cer 



368 HISTORY OF MODERN 

tain stimulants, together with the endearments and caresses of the recusant, 
to bring her out of. At length, however, the fits became too frequent, and the 
reconciliations too few. The issue of the Theocrat representing a state of 
angelic peace, began to be too feeble to counteract the loud voice of rumor, 
which affirmed the existence of a pandemonium at Harmony Springs. Finally, 
several of the members, who had staid by the ark in the vain hope of rescuing 
some of their dissipated wealth from the clutches of their spoilers, resolved to 
take active measures for its recovery, and the rumor of this proceeding reach- 
ing the Spencers, they eloped with whatever they could possess themselves 
of, leaving their victims literally penniless. Upon this, one of the members 
who had invested "five thousand good golden dollars in the operation," fol- 
lowed the fugitives, had them arrested and thrown into prison, but, unhappily, 
the complications of extravagance and roguery by which the money was spent 
and the estate involved, left little or nothing for the victims but mortification 
and ruin. And thus they separated, richer, perhaps, for their exi)erience, and 
few of them disposed again to trast to plenary inspiration, infallible mediums, 
or the unimpeachable authority of spirits in the body, or even angels out of it. 
It is worthy of notice that no spirit mediums or spiritual speakers could be in- 
veigled into this miserable delusion, though many of their most eminent mem- 
bers had been solicited to join it. On the contrar}^, they repeatedly warned 
the Spiritualists of the West that the movement was contrary to the genius of 
true Spiritualism, and a false and fatal interpolation of mean cunning and 
wickedness upon its rational teachings. 

The result proved the truth of their affirmations, although, at the time, they 
were attributed to jealousy of the "angelic ministration," to which the unde- 
veloped spirit mediums could not aspire. 

The following are choice specimens of the lectures which were given on 
the special occasions above referred to, enunciated through the inspired lips 
of Mrs. Martha Spencer, and noted down by appointed scribes, until these 
sublime utterances were observed by some profane commentators to be sin- 
gularly and habitually contradictory of each other, after which the lectures 
were given as " lectures of the hour," but transcription was forbidden. 

" SPECIAL LECTURE ON THE ANGELS DISCOVERING THAT CERTAIN OF THE BRETH- 
REN WERE GROWING SUSPICIOUS. 

" There are some that think they are surrounded by enemies, but the worst enemy is in 
their own breasts. In the human heart is a great enemy ; it lurks in a place wliere it can 
throw its deadly fangs into the mind, and except you have your mind fixed on the one eter- 
nal Father, you can never attain the end that you are living for. Now if your mind is im- 
pelled to talk on politics, or other low things of life, you are lowering yourself beneath the 
dignity of Christ, your leader; if you stoop below the order of heaven to meddle with such 
things, you can never attain to eternal life, and the tongue being an umuly member, it will 
say things that will bring you into trouble, whether you say them yourself or listen to 
others ; and if you meddle in such things, yoti must surely die. Now, do not stoop to talk 
with any one unless you have business, for surely if you do you will come u^ contact with 
low, false, and worldly spirits ; therefore keep from talking, or listening, oi meddling with 
any one whatsoever. 

" And som-e of you talk to strangers, and meddle and make, and every one that does, 
surely drinks in death at every sentence ; and if you would have eternal life you must be 

partakers of none such things Heaven and eternal life consist in having 

your organs rightly directed as you have been taught by the angels; and death is the prying 
into things that are of the world, and acquisitiveness, and keeping anything to yourselves, 
and looking into things too much for your knowledge, and inquiring into things that the 
angels only hint at, and questioning what tlie angels say, or do, and doubting much, and 
fixing up separate dishes for yourselves," etc. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. Z^o 

It will be readily perceived that these communications were universally 
inferior in style and pretension to the Mountain Cove, or Spear inspirations. 

The communications given through the medium of the minor operator, 
Mrs. Martha Spencer, are not fair specimens of the male genius of the 
mi^vement, Avhose intelligence, shrewdness, and psychological power, were 
far superior to that of his assistant. 

As an evidence of the trash that could be imposed upon a self-deluded 
comunity under the afflatus of fanaticism and credulity, we shall present 
the reader -with some verses, said to have been given directly from "the 
angels," and commanded by them to be sung for the refreshment of the 
brethren and sisters of the Harmonial Society. 

"SONG OF THE ANGELS. 

" The car of Life is passing by, 
They call for all who will, to come 
And take a seat and ride with us, 
Who are bound for Heaven's immortal shore. 

" The fare is cheap and food is plain, 
For you can eat as you ride along ; 
For there is no gi^ease to soil your clothes, 
No bone to pick, or scales of fish to interfere." 

"ANOTHER ANGELIC SONG. 

" Roll on, revohdng time, nor stay 
To count the days or years, to tell 
When the curtain will be drawn. 
The hidden vessels will be foimd. 

"Roll on years, nor stop to stay, 
For if to death we all are doomed, 
We need not fear our eaidy tomb. 
For ages would increase our fears. 

"Let not Joshua forbid the sun. 
On one moment's time to stay, 
When all are sure that we will meet 
Our brothers that this truth now teach." 

Our readers may feel uncertain whether any rational, educated Americans 
could have either perpetrated such lines, or suffered their transcription, when 
uttered by the lips of another ; but, lest Ave should be accused of having se- 
lected special specimens for the purpose of caricature, Ave beg to state we 
have a large collection of MSS. of a similar description, furnished by one of 
the members, Avho remained some years in the society, and Avho, herself a 
very shreAvd and intelligent Avoman, thus remarks upon them : " And the most 

AA'onderful part of the story is, that F ■ and other intelligent, long-headed 

people, had such implicit faith in that man [Dr. Spencer] that they yielded 
up everyriiing to him, Avithout a murmur, and even, to the last, could scarcely 
be brought to believe that he Avas an impostor." 

"For my part," adds my correspondent, "I saw through them the first hour I 
got into the place, and saAV that everything had been misrepresented to us. 
I Avas ahvays a thorn in their side ; but I stayed along on account of my hus- 
band, and he, at last, in the hope of getting back the heavy sums we had put 
in the concern. 

24 



370 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

"I am quite sure the most of them were bewitched, or fascinated, or undei 
the spell of that Spencer, somehow, and couldn't get out of it, with all of their 
sense, until the spell was broken." 

We are entirely of our correspondent's opinion, only that we trace the spell 
to a natural cause ; to wit, that powerful human psychology that has enabled 
hundreds of sectarian leaders of various denominations to bind to their cause, 
followers of a mental calibre and intellectual sterngth far above their own, 
and even, as in the cases of Montanus, Munzer, Joe Smith, and many other 
fanatics of repulsive characters and manners, to subdue, by some hidden force 
of will, minds that, without such a power, would shrink with disgust from their 
leadership. 

As usual, the Spencer explosion was at once saddled upon the pack-horse, 
" Spiritualism;" and it requires some time and a good deal of forcible assever- 
ation, to compel the world's acknowledgment that SpirituaUsts had always 
humbly acknowledged their unworthiness to soar to the high companionship 
of the angels at Harmony Springs, v/hilst frequent reference was made to cer- 
tain communications given, at her own solicitation, to the author, by her spirit 
guides, of which the following brief dialogue is a specimen : 

Medium questioning the spirits, who converse with her. 

Q. My spirit friend, are you present? 

A. I am. What would you ? 

Q. Did you see tlie lady who was with me just now ? * Did you hear her narrative, and 
think you it is true ? 

A. I saw the lady, and think just as you do. 

Q. Nay, you avoid my question. The lady wore clothes which she declared the angels 
brought her. Is that true ? 

A. I saw the clothes, but not the angels who brought them. 

Q. Why not? 

A. I am but a poor spirit, remember, and cannot enter into the sphere of the wonderful 
angels who provide yon lady's garments. 

Q. Nay, but answer me more to the purpose, for — 

A. Then be quick with your questions ; I may melt out before you can frame them. 
You know I am only a parasite living on human emanations, and since you have had no 
dinner yourself, I have had no emanations to-day, and may fade out, for lack of sustenance, 
any moment. 

Q. My sprightly " Demon," you mock me; I shall question you no more, but seek for 
information on this subject from my lecturing band. I shall ask my kind G. F. or J. F. to 
answer me. 

A. Alas, my Emma, G. F. faded out yesterday, and J. F. has melted within the last 
hour. 

And thus, by mere force of ridicule, but without a single grave comment or 
word of denial, spirits sneered the absurd Spencer theories out of their anxious 
mediums' minds, until not one of them could be induced to give heed to the 
Angelism whose bold asseverations were equally unsustained by the 
facts or rational philosophy, which marks the whole theory of modern Spir- 
itualism. 

It was long, however, before the prejudiced world could be induced to in- 
stitute this comparison, or relieve Spiritualism from the odium of the move- 
ment at Harmony Springs. 

In judging of this and the preceding case, let the reader remember that 
it was a Spiritualist editor that most severely lashed the abuses of the infa- 
mous " Patriarchal " order ; Spiritualists who repudiated with the most per- 
sistant denial, the baseless theories of the self-styled Harmonialists ; and Spirit- 
ualists who can always aiiord to trust their truth, with all its lights and shadows, 

*Mrs. Martha Spencer. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 371 

facts and fanaticisms, to do battle with the v/hole world, its votaries a iJ dis- 
ciples included ; convinced that it has a foundation of fact and pliilosophy to 
rest upon, wliicli the winds of falsehood cannot shake, nor the waves of oppo- 
sition lash from its eternal foundations. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

WESTERN SPIRITUALISM. — ST. LOUIS (CONTINUED). 

" How now ! what have we here ? 
A man or demon, saint or angel, which ? 
Speak ! for thy outward is a compost : 
Something above the earth, but more beneath it ; 
Though nothing human on it." 

Old Play. 
" Life is at best a nuxt and tangled woof." 

Shakspe.\re. 

The "ColorDoctor" — Wonderful Phenomena — The Cause in St. Louis — Thb 
Case of Ira B. Eddy — Judicial views of Spiritualism, 

In the city of St. Louis, on a street that leads away towards the extreme 
suburbs, stands a one-story frame building, whose worn, dilapidated appearance 
betokens neglect rather than age. The small fore-court is choked up with 
rubbish, and the ding}^ door, though always pertinaciously closed, looks as if 
it were ready to fall from its hinges vvith rust and decay. Knock upon its 
shaking panels, and you will encounter, in the narrow opening that is grudg- 
ingly yielded to your summons, a small elderly man, attired in a nondescript flut- 
ter of serge rags, in the shape of a tunic and pantaloons, torn and patched in 
many places, and bedight in others \nth dingy stripes of various colored rags. 

JNIost likely the feet, hands, and throat, of this singular apparition will be 
bare, with the exception of the thick coating of dirt which is nonnal to their 
owner ; but in all probability the toes and fingers, as well as the muscular 
neck, will be garnished with stripes of particolored rags tied around them. 

The head of the little figure will be covered with a thin thatch of gray elf- 
locks, which erect themselves outwardly in bristling array, save only where they 
lie matted together \A\\\ dirt. The whole aspect of this remarkable personage 
is so singular, uncouth, and repulsive, that you would inevitably shrink from the 
half-closed entrance, vvadening courteously at the approach of a well-be- 
haved stranger, were you not arrested by the bright scintillations of a pierc- 
ing and intelligent pair of eyes, and attracted onwards by the pleasant and 
even winning smile of a face which, if cleansed from the foul accretions gath- 
ered in long years of unwashed filth, promises to be kind and singularly intel- 
ligent. 

Overcome the first repulsive start which the sight of this weird figure oc- 
casions you, cross the dim tlireshold, enter the dingy apartment, make your 
way, through broken sticks and the " dust of ages," to any such bench or 
frame as you may deem promises you a moderate share of support, be seated 
in response to a courteous wave of your host's dingy hand, and you sit face to 
face with the celebrated Dr. Hotchkiss, better known as the " color doctor," or 
" snapping doctor" [for both soubriquets fit him], of St. Louis. 

If your visit is one of mere curiosity, you had better depart at once ; in fact, 
to have stayed away altogether would have been your best alternative in such 



372 HISTORY OF MODERN 

a case ; but if you are suffering in body or earnest in mind to investigate one 
of the rarest of nature's phenomenal existences, stay where you are, and wii- 
ness what follows. 

Perhaps, like the author on the occasion of her first visit to the " Hotchkiss- 
onian Institute," as the two chambered shanty is styled, you may be intro- 
duced by one of the doctor's patients; if so, you are fortunate, and your ex- 
perience may be similar to hers, which by way of a preparatory hint for your 
future guidance, we shall here relate. 

Accompanied by Mr. M., at that time the president of the St. Louis Spir- 
itual meetings, the author one day called on Dr. Hotchkiss, some time in the 
year 1858, with the desire to ascertain, if possible, upon what principles he 
based his celebrated methods of cure, which rumor affirmed to be little 
short of miraculous. 

Arrived at the " shanty," as above described, and admitted on the strength 
of Mr. M.'s introduction, the little doctor invited the lady, her escort, and 
some strangers who were already in the entrance chamber, into an inner apart- 
ment. Here the party found two young women, attired in short skirts and 
jackets, the one pink and the other blue, whom the doctor called his "keys." 

Mr. M., the patient to be operated upon, was then desired to mount on 
the chest of the little doctor, who stretched himself flat on his back on the 
ground, and whilst holding a hand of each of the " keys," in order to give 
greater force to the manifestations, Mr. jumped up and down on the doctor's 
ribs, some twelve or fourteen times, with all the impetus that a heavy man of 
a hundred and eighty pounds weight could give. The blows thus inflicted by 
the boots of the dancer on his passive human floor, might have been heard 
through the closed doors into the street, but produced no other eftect upon' 
their recipient than to induce him, with a violent quaking and shivering, to 
spring up at last from the ground, leap about iai the air for a few seconds, 
snap his fingers violently, twist round and round with the agility of an ape, 
and then inform his patient that he knew he was much better, a proposition 
to which Mr. M. cordially assented. 

The doctor then attempted to explain, for the edification of his guests, his 
belief that all diseases were occasioned by the plus or minus of certain rays 
of light, Avhich the human system absorbed in different proportions. 

He said that these rays containing different quantities of the prismatic 
colors, constituted component parts of the human organism, and that some 
persons exhibit the predominance of the ray of their special color, by their par- 
tiality for it as an article of dress ; others by their indifference to, or incapac- 
ity to distinguished colors, etc, ; in short, that this predominance of special colors 
in the organism of each individual caused corresponding peculiarities of 
temperament, while the plus or minus of the organic ray was the primary 
cause of disease. 

Acting on this theory, he wore various strips of particolored rags to keep 
himself "in sympathy" with his patients, to whom he gave a corresponding 
strip and color to wear during the remedial process. 

In addition to this treatjnent, the doctor occasionally required the said 
patients to jump on or pound his body after the manner above described, 
wliilst the whole method of treatment included various gyrations, snapping?, 
turnings, twistings, rollings on the ground, and a series of eccentric motions 
equally indescribable and strange. 

To those who had witnessed the processes by which Eastern ecstatic s,such 
as dervishes, santons, or fakeers, induced the magnetic condition, it would 
have been apparent that similar, principles were here involved and uncon- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 373 

sciously operated in the "color doctor's" performances. The singular gam- 
bols of the erratic little figure not only fascinated or spell-bound the eye of 
the observer, but succeeded in liberating such a vast charge of magnetic 
aura from his highly electrical body, that it became next to .impossible for a 
" sensitive " to remain in his presence during these curative exercises, with- 
out coming under his psychological influence, an effect which generally be- 
came manifest either by a deep trance, or in the subject's sympathetic imita- 
tion of the operator's fantastic movements. This was the effect produced 
upon the author, who, from first watching the remarkable actions of the 
ecstatic with simple curiosity, at last became spell-bound beneath his strong 
magnetic influence. 

No sooner did the doctor perceive this than he directed towards her all his 
further operations. 

He first diagnosed her temperament, and correctly intimated that her favor- 
ite colors were blue and white, the former of which he pronounced to be her 
representative. 

He then, by silent wfll, commanded her to remove her bonnet and cloak, 
after which, placing her in a passive attitude in the inner chamber, he passed 
into the outer, ranging his visitors near the open door of communication so 
that they could see what transpired in both apartments. 

He tlien, standing in the outer room, and entirely beyond the line of vision 
of any one in the inner chamber, took in his hand, one after another, strips 
of various colors, and the instant he touched these his subject in the inner 
chamber, wholly unable to see him, had she even looked that way, started up, 
and in highly significant pantomimic action, proceeded to represent some pas- 
sion of the human soul, such as joy, grief, devotion, despair, hatred, rage, 
etc. 

In every case a certain passion or a scene, such as captivity, liberty, etc., was 
represented, as if in correspondence to a special color ; sometimes the color 
Avould be dropped by the operator and -several others tried, when he would 
again return to the first one, but the pantomimic action of the subject was 
always special to each color, no matter how often it was tried or the experi- 
ment varied. In this way, and for a period of two hours, a vast number of 
pantomimic representations were enacted. It was enough for the doctor to 
touch a fresh color to change the action with the speed of lightning. So long 
as he continued holding that color, even while merely prolonging a conversa- 
tion, the corresponding action continued ; if he di'opped it, it ceased instantly ; 
even when he unconsciously touched another color, the spectators testified 
that the action changed, proving that intentional psychology was not at work. 
For instance, the doctor, without having the least idea what result would be 
produced upon his subject, took up a strip of yellow cloth; instantly the lady 
in the next apartment fell on her knees, began worshippmg the sun, and repre- 
senting the fervor of religious devotion ; tlie operator dropped the color, and 
the room in Avhich he stood ^^^th the spectators being very dark, and himself 
engaged in earnest conversation, he accidently took up a piece of gray cloth, 
when, instantly, the subject, as if beholding the action through the interven- 
ing wall, began to mimic the rattle and hiss of a snake, and to personate the 
most deadly malice and treachery. The specialties of this remarkable scene 
were, first, its entire spontaneity, neither party having prepared for it, or 
being in expectation of such results ; indeed, notwithstanding Dr. Hotch- 
kiss's vague theory that colors corresponded to passions, temperaments, and 
organic conditions, he had never attempted to reduce his theory to a system, 
and declared that he was totally unprepared to expect what results would 



374 HISTORY OF MODERN 

pi oceed from the various colors he touched; furthermore, he admitted that 
he had never before witnessed such a scene, Avas entirely unprepared for it, 
and, therefore, that his will, or any psychological influence on his part, was 
entirely out of the question. The next noteworthy feature of the scene Avas 
the curious effect produced upon the subject, who, commencing by exceeding 
disgust and repulsion toward her operator, suddenly found herself spell- 
bound, and though in perfect possession of her consciousness, felt so hope- 
lessly in the power of this involuntary enchantment that she subsequently 
declared, had the doctor willed her to commit a murder under that influence, 
she would certainly have been compelled to do so. 

As a still further illustration of this occult experiment, we call attention to the 
following incident : Mr. M., as president of the lecture committee, felt himself 
responsible for the Avelfare and sanity of his charge, Avho Avas then the lecturer 
for the St. Louis Association of Spiritualists ; besides this, he Avas a AA^arm 
personal friend of the author's, and felt greatly disturbed at the scene he Avit- 
nessed, and distrustful of the effects that might result to her, from the strange 
and unaccountable influence the Aveird operator exerted ; hence, he attempted, 
first by appeals, and finally by remonstrances, and even threats, to compel 
him to relinquish his terrible power. The operator, hoAvever, delighted to 
find " such a good subject," insisted on pursuing an experiment so navel to 
himself, as well as interesting to the Avhole party, save the harassed president 
and the helpless subject. At length, and in the midst of the performance, 
Ml". M. seized the lady by the arm, and attempted to lead her out of the 
enchanted circle. 

The operator, instead of remonstrating, quietly bade him " take her." They 
quitted the nmer room, and had advanced half way through the outer chamber, 
Avhich Avas \'ery dark, Avhen the lady paused, and, with wild and agonizing 
cries, refused to advance one step further. Upon this the operator trium- 
phantly cried, " Take her if you Avill, but if you force her onward you may kill 
her. I have placed a green ray on the ground and she cannot pass over 
it." It Avas so dark that the obsei-vers had to examine the ground minutely 
to ascertain the truth of this assertion, and yet the medium, Avithout the possi- 
bflity of being informed of the fact by natural sight, had felt and detected the 
presence of the obnoxious ray, across which it seemed impossible to drag her. 
The doctor explained that, having noticed her aversion to green, he had placed 
it on the ground by way of continuing his experiments. But this ncAV and sin- 
gular experience suggested a happy thought to Mr. M., Avho had also remarked 
the medium's predilection for blue. Obsei-ving that her cloak Avas lined Avith 
that color, he suddenly resolved to throw it across her shoulders. Wliether the 
charm lay in the color or the substance, which was silk, Ave leave the electri- 
cians and psychologists to decide ; certain it is that as so.on as the garment 
enveloped her form, the spell Avhich held the subject Avas broken, or rather, it 
might be said, it became polarized, or reversed ; for Avhilst she passed into the 
happy and exalted condition of trance that usually attended her lectures, the 
hitherto poAA'erful operator crouched at her feet, manifesting all the submis- 
sive action of a dog, and obviously changing places Avith his late subject. 

It Avill be remembered by the habitual readers of the spiritual journals, that 
Mr. M., the gentleman Avho accompanied Mrs. Hardinge to this remarkable 
intervieAv, has Avritten detailed accounts of that and other seances between 
the same parties, in several different papers ; but though his own Avitness and 
that of many others, can be cited for the accuracy of these statements, and 
experiments of this nature involve some deeply interesting, and little under- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 375 

stood points of occult philosophy, our space forbids us to enter into further 
descriptions of them. 

The occurrence we have noticed took place in 1858, since which time the 
eccentric healer has to some extent abandoned his faith in the sympathetic 
effect of colors as a curative agent, and relies chiefly on the liberation of a 
magnetic aura, diffused by snapping of the joints, whirlings, gyrations, and 
sundry rotary movements, in which he believes electrical principles are in- 
volved. 

These he practices himself and requires in his patients, and, strange as 
such methods of cure may appear, that they are effective, is proved to be 
an obstinate fact, for the "snapping doctor" is not only renowned for his 
success as a healer, but he maintains in sympathy with him a number of dis- 
ciples, who, by similar " snappings " and manifestations, make cures of an 
equally unaccountable and effective character. It is said that Dr. Hotchkiss, 
by a process peculiar to himself, can so charge his disciples with his power- 
ful magnetism that they become reservoirs, whom he can send abroad to 
perform service in lieu of himself Besides these, and in connection with 
the great central battery in St. Louis, he has instructed operators, scattered 
over different parts of the AVest, and provided they maintain their mysterious 
magnetic rapport with himself, they actually effect "miracles" of curative 
power, precisely as he would do, were he present. 

'Jlre author has herself seen the ability of these "snapping doctors" fully 
tested ; witnessed the rapid and healthful results of their operations, and 
been furnished with numerous testin-ionials from persons cured of various dis- 
eases by their agency. Perhaps not the least remarkable feature in the case 
of the great original is, that during the twenty years he has pursued this 
system of healing, for some reason understood by himself, though not imi- 
tated by his disciples, " the snapping doctor" of St. Louis has never washed 
nor cleansed his person, and when occasionally induced to incase himself in 
fresh garments, he proceeds systematically to reduce them to rags, so as to 
permit the same freedom of action which belonged to the cast-off suit. 

The cures which he has performed, however, are fixed facts, to which many 
of his grateful patients have openly testified. 

, This is not the place to attempt any explanation of such a phenomenon, 
however, and we simply assign the narrative of its existence a record in these 
pages, as one of the unmistakable evidences of that occult side of our being 
which constitutes man's spiritual nature. 

We shall close our account of the Spiritualism of St. Louis with one or two 
recitals of interest extracted from the papers of the day, and illustrative of the 
character ot the movement in "the far West." 

The following occurrence transpired quite early in the modern communion 
with spirits, and when first observed, was regarded Avith equal awe and won- 
der. The power of invisible beings to converse orally with mortals has now 
become so familiar a phenomenon, that it is no longer heralded to the world 
as a "wonderful manifestation." 

TELEGRAPH PAPERS — MAY, 1853. 

"A correspondent oi Light from the Spirit-JVorM, writing from Brookville, Missouri, 
gives the details of occurrences which took place with the spirits on two successive evenings, 
of so extraordinary a character that wa cannot omit giving the following condensed account 
of them. 

" On a certain evening several young persons met together to hold a circle, at which they 
endeavored to persuade the spirits to give them some 'fun,' as they expressed it. The room 



376 HISTORY OF MODERN 

was partially darkened, and in this condition, the spirits manifested themselves by dancing, 
stamping, and knocking, until the house shook. 

" They pulled the hair of somp, and boxed the ears of others, sticking the parties with pins, 
until they drew blood. 

"After several violent demonstrations of this kind, they took our correspondent's hat, 
which was of braided straw, drew it along the ceiling and cornices of the room until they 
heard it ripping, when it fell, piece by piece, torn to atoms, on the floor. The next even- 
ing, the same circle being assembled, and in the same spirit of thoughtless exi^eriment, one 
of the membei^s called out a request that if the spirits were present they would signify it by 
saying 'Yes.' To the astonishment of all, and the consternation of several, the word ' Yes' 
was distinctly pronounced. 

"In then- terror some of the company fled from the room; but after the excitement had 
a little subsided, those who remained, amongst whom were the mediums, requested the spirits 
to converse with them, if possible, in an audible tone. By the rappings, the spirits agi-eed to 
to do so, provided every one present would give their consent, and say they were willing to 
listen. An eager and unanimous assent being given, the party remained perfectly quiet for 
a few minntes, when a spirit voice proceeded to address them in a peculiarly high, slu-ill tone, 
as follows : 

" ' Oh, do not say that it is the evil one that speaks to you, for it is the spirit of ]\Iary 
Gray, whom some of you know. 

" ' I was your friend on earth. I am so still. I come to speak peace to you, and teach 
you to love God. You remember the child of Mrs. Roby, who died in this place a few days 
ago. 

"'Tell the poor, mourning mother her child still lives. I met it, attended by angel- 
guardians, bearing it to its spirit home. Tell her it is well and happy, and will grow in 
beauty and purity in heaven. Alas ! how many are there here who might suddenly be called 
hence, but who are unfit to enter spirit-life ! How few who know what it is, and yet who 
trifle away their opportunities of preparing for it ! 

" 'You have all come here this evening to trifle with spirits, and then you ask for the 
privilege of conversing with beings from a higher v/orld. Even now at your neighbor's, 
Mrs. Ward's, a circle is being held at which the subject is treated in the same trifling tone, 
and the high and holy truths of immortality are being turned mto mere amusement and ridi- 
cule.'* 

"The spirit then asked the company to sing a hymn and pray, in both of which exercises 
she distinctly and audibly joined, continuing to converse with them on subjects having a local 
or personal interest, for about two hours and a half. To this account the narrator appends 
the names of ten persons, who were witnesses of the scene ; and upon a careful inquiry which 
we have instituted into the testimony of each one separately, we find they all agree in the 
minutest details. — Editor Telegraph Papers." 

In 1858 Mr. Miltenberger, the late president of the Sabbath meetings at 
St. Louis, writes of the cause in that city to the Spiritual Telegraj)h, as fol- 
lows : 

"THE CAUSE IN ST. LOUIS. 

" Spiritualism is in a more healthy and flourishing condition in this city than it has ever 
been before. We have effected an organization for business purposes, and have elected 
that old champion, Peter E. Bland, as president, Robert White as vice-president, and J. 
W. Blood as secretary. We have rented the hall for the third year, and paid for it in ad- 
vance. We now give the morning lecture free, with a collection, but at night charge one 
dime admittance, a fee which, small as it is, amounts, from our great numbers, to an ample 
fund, while it is sufficient to assess each, and not oppress any one, thus commandmg the 
approval of all. 

"We commenced our third year on the 12th inst., with Emma Hardinge, who remains 
with us through January. She was greeted on her first Sunday with an overflowing house, 
hundreds having to go away without being able to obtain standing room. 

" On the second Sunday, although it poured rain all day, the house was as full as it could 
hold, and her thii-d and fourth Sundays, will, if fair, compel us to procure a larger hall. 

" She has drawn out largely the sceptical portion of our people, who do not understand 
anything about 'a trance,' but think she is ' a very learned and wonderful woman ; ' but I 

* This, upoa inquiiy, proved to be correct. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM 377 

still doulot if our most learned men could deliver such lectures, even if they had the capacity 
to compose and the memory to retain them. 

'■' Our severest critics say they cannot detect her tripping in a single point of history or 
science 

"A. J. and Mary Davis will lecture here after Emma Hardmge, to be followed, in rapid 
succession, by our best speakers. 

" There is a vast interest awakened here, and extending to all the surrounding districts 
in the West. Calls are pouring in for Mrs. Hardinge more numerous than she could fulfill 
had she a trinity of mouths to lecture with.' 

"A. MiLTENBERGER. 

" St. Louis, December 20, 1858." 

It would be impossible to follow out the course of this great movement 
further in St. Louis, except to say that it has ever been a noble stronghold 
of the faith. 

Necessarily suspended during the progress of the great American conflict, 
the Sabbath meetings, a fine organization of the Children's Lyceum, and an 
immense number of private circles, have all been recently resumed with 
vasdy increased interest ; indeed, in point of numbers, and the abiding faith 
of sterling and reliable supporters, " the cause " has never assumed such 
strength and importance there as at the present time. 

Redman, Foster, Mansfield, and all the best test travelling mediums, have 
visited the city, finding a warm welcome from the Spiritualists, and extensive 
patronage from a continually widening circle of inquirers. 

True the friends of this great cause have been subject in St. Louis, as in 
every other place, to many mutations of fortune. 

They have endured scandal, reproach, and mortification, sometimes 
unjustly, and at others justly called forth by the follies and inconsistencies 
of the advocates and exponents of their own belief Faithful to the sublime 
truths intrusted to their keeping, the great bulk of the original army who 
first entered the field in defence of their glorious faith, are still in the vi^ar- 
riors' panoply, or, more properly speaking, standing like well-tried sentinels 
around the outposts of duty, ready to do or die in behalf of their beloved 
cause. We may often have occasion to refer to the individuals who consti- 
tute the legions of this noble army, perhaps to incidents connected with the 
city itself, but our narrative of its specialties must now close, with a fervent 
blessing on the hospitable homes, warm hearts, and faithful hands, of the St. 
Louis Spiritualists. 

Our review of Spiritualism in other portions of the West must be general 
rather than local, although each city, town, and village, would furnish ample 
materials for an interesting narrative. 

Great excitement prevailed at one time through the West in consequence 
of the high-handed action by which a respectable and wealthy citizen of 
Chicago was arrested, dragged from his home, and incarcerated in a lunatic 
asylum, on no other grounds than a charge of being concerned in a banking 
operation, which, being established by Spiritualists, and conducted in a some- 
what different manner to the gigantic American swindles commonly called 
"banks," necessarily implied insanity, according to the world's definition 
thereof 

The subject of this outrage was Mr. Ira B. Eddy, a gentleman who, having 
acquired a large property by his financial ability in business, deemed himself 
^t liberty to dispose of his own earnings as he pleased, and hence invested 
certain sums in the banking establishment of Seth Paine, a SpirituaHst, and 
generously fitted up a room, for the purpose of holding spiritual meetings, at 
Ixis own expense. These were the chief, if not the only grounds of accusa- 



378 HISTORY OF MODERN 

tion against him ; and constituting, as some of his nearest relatives chose to 
assume, sufficient proof of his insanity, they had him dragged from his home, 
conveyed, gagged and bound, to tlie distant State of Connecticut, and there 
incarcerated in tlie Hartford Lunatic Asylum, on the certificate obtained by 
an ajfcdionate a?id disinterested brother ! 

The following extract from the Telegraph Papers of 1853 will give a fair 
summary of this infamous transaction : 

"THE CASE OF IRA B. EDDY. 

" Last week we published a letter from Chicago, signed by three gentlemen who reside in 
that city, giving a brief account of a high-handed outrage against tlie rights of Mr. Ira B. 
Eddy, one of the most peaceable and orderly citizens of that place. 

'" It appears that the person of Mr. Eddy was suddenly and violently seized, without any 
legal process, by several persons, amongst whom were Dr. John A. Kinnicott, a Mr. Starr 
Foote, one Freer, and another man [name not given], and, on the pretence of his insanity, 
he was tied, gagged, and borne away from his own house, he knew not whither. No oppor- 
tunity was given him to speak to a single friend, or to disclose to any one the knowledge of 
his wiongs. We are sorry to record the alleged fact, that even his wife did not attempt to 
prevent this ignoble deed, but silently complied with the request of those men, in prei^aring 
his linen. 

" Mr. Eddy was taken to the railroad cars, but kept in ignorance of his destination until 
he arrived at the lunatic asylum in Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Kinnicott was introduced 
to the superintendent of the retreat by a letter, of which he was the bearer, from D. C. 
Eddy, the brother of Ira, and the doctor proceeded to introduce his associates, as ' medical 
men from the vicinity of Chicago.' 

" But Mr. Eddy was too much respected, and the injury was of too flagi-ant a character to 
pass unnoticed. As soon as the nature of the case was fairly known, many persons of wealth 
and respectability interested themselves in his behalf. Letters were addressed to us, to Drs. 
Gray, Hallock, and others, in this city, and a communication forwarded to A. J. Davis, 
Hartford, Connecticut, signed by the postmaster of Chicago, the proprietor of the Tremont 
House, and thirty-six other highly respectable citizens of that place, many of whom were not 
Spiritualists. 

" These all certified to the good character, sound mind, peaceable disposition, and busi- 
ness capacity of Ira B. Eddy. At the same time, James A. Morrell and Nathan H. Bolles, 
residents of Chicago, and personal friends of Mr. Eddy's, went to Hartford, to aid in pro- 
curing his release. 

" On Tuesday, the igth inst., 'Mr. Eddy was brought before Judge Phelps on a writ of 
habeas corpus. 

"Dr. John S. Butler, of the Insane Retreat, Messrs. Morrell and Bolles, besides others 
cognizant of the facts and parties, were summoned as witnesses. 

" The examination resulted in the immediate liberation of Mr. Eddy. 

•' We have a few earnest words to offer before we dismiss this case. The facts elicited 
by the evidence are, substantially, as follows : 

" Mr. Ira B. Eddy is an honest man, a worthy citizen, of sane mind, and ' a good busi- 
ness man.' Mr. Bolles, who had known him for fifteen years, declared, under oath, that 
he had always conducted his business skilfully and well. Several other witnesses testified 
that Mr. Eddy, by his able management, had becpme the owner of an estate worth %Zo,ooo, 
but some of his relatives, desirous, it would seem, to possess themselves of the fruits of his 
industry, have taken advantage of his openly-avowed belief in Spiritualism, to pretend that 
he was 'insane,' and hicompetent to manage his own affairs. 

" His oppressors did not dare to introduce him into the asylum of his o^vn State, where 
the flagi-ant character of the outrage might have been too I'eadily discovered ; but, with his 
hands tied, his mouth stopped like a condemned felon, he is dragged by Dr. Kinnicott and a 
trinity of farriers, all the way to New England. And these ' medical men from the vicinity 
of Chicago,' self-appointed, to protect the citizens of that place from acts of violence which 
one of the most amiable and inoffensive men in the woidd was never expected to commit, 
pay no sort of respect to his manhood, but treat him in exactly the way that a set of horse- 
doctors usually do treat their patients. 

" But it may be interesting to inquire how Mr. Eddy conducted himself under the trying 
circumstances. Did he act like a madman? Did the outrages to which he was subject 
succeed in compelling from him acts or words whose violence, however natural under the 
circumstances, and perhaps anticipated as the result of such treatment, could give the least 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 379 

sanction to the charge of insanity ? On the contrary, Dr. Butler, the superintendent of the 
retreat, bore emphatic witness that liis conduct was ' uniformly quiet, gentlemanlike, and 
courteous,' nor could the closest cross-examination elicit from him a shadow of evidence to 
justify the suspicion of insanity. 

" The other witnesses, but few of whom were Spiritualists, though two of them wealthy 
citizens of Chicago, voluntarily undertook the long journey to Hartford, to bear their indig- 
nant testimony against Mr. Eddy's %vi-ongs, all affirmed, from long and intimate personal ac- 
quaintance with him, that he had on all occasions manifested great forbearance towards his 
enemies, never I'esenting their injuries in a revengeful spirit, only insisting on the undisputed 
possession of his most sacred rights, — his freedom of conscience and action. 

" But his per.'.ecutors did act like madmen, or we have no correct idea of what insanity 
is ; indeed, they can hardly hope to be excused by a righteous public sentiment, unless they 
urge the plea of lunacy in their behalf ' ' 

The details of the trial are too long for insertion, and the evidence elicited 
only forms a confirmation of the foregoing statements. 

After the appearance in court, and calm, collected evidence of Mr. Eddy 
himself, who firmly but mildly attributed the outrage he had endured to the 
bitter opposition with which his relatives regarded his adherence to Spiritual- 
ism, the judge, without a moment's hesitation, agreed to the motion of Mr. 
Eddy's counsel for his immediate discharge. 

Another instance of the animus with which Spiritualism was regarded, and 
the intolerance, even of public ofiicials, in connection with the subject, is to 
be found in the charge pronounced against a criminal by Judge Clinton, of 
the Superior Court, m Buffalo. An indictment for assault and battery had 
been laid against a certain Mr. G., whose wife was known to be an excellent 
spirit medium. This fact was elicited in the course of the trial ; and as the 
prisoner's offence was assumed to be proved. Judge Clinton, in pronouncing 
sentence upon him, alluded to the spiritualistic part of the evidence in terms 
which are summed up in the report of the trial published in the Age of 
Progress, with the editor's comments, as follows : 

" ' Mr. G., — In considei'ation of the good character which you have showTi by the afh- 
davits just read, the court is disposed to be as lenient to you as the circumstances of the 
case will admit ; but, on the other hand, they feel it to be their duty to deal with you more 
severely on account of the shaineful fact that the difficulty out of which your offence grew 
originated in your connection with that miserable and dangerous delusion, Spiritualism. I 
am surprised that a man v/ho can adduce such testimony of a good reputation should suffer 
himself to be led away by a fatal delusion, which has sent hundreds of its victims to the 
asylums for the insane, and which, if it be of spiritual origin, must be of the devil. The 
court have decided to fine you,' etc. 

"At the close of this exhortation and sentence, the counsel for the defendant arose, and 
asked if the court intended any portion of the fine as a punishment for the defendant's con- 
nection with Spiritualism. 

" The judge gave an answer indirectly inclining to the negative, but indicating that the 
court felt it their duty to punish with a heavier hand all offences growing out of Spiritual- 
ism, adding, after a pause, and with an emphatic flourish of his head, 'And this course 
will be continued.' 

" When the judge ceased the defendant whispered to his counsel that he was not a Spir- 
itualist, nor a believer in Spiritualism. 

" This the counsel stated to the court, together with the defendant's further assurance 
that, though his wife was a believer, he himself had never seen anytlung to convmce him 
of the truth of the alleged spiritual intercourse." 

The editor of the Age of Progress, in his report, goes on to say, " that such 
a metamorphosis as came over Judge Clinton's face, he never before remem- 
bered ; indeed, the sweetness of the smile that overspread it was far in 
advance, for blandness. of any smile that he had heretofore beheld k^xi a 
judicial face. The gracious expression was accompanied with these words : 



380 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" I am heartily glad to hear it. I am very glad that you have more 
sense than to give credence to the absurdities and follies of that most mi* 
chievous delusion." 

The editor adds, that in his statement "he has not aimed to give the pre- 
cise language of the judge, though he has preserved the spirit and substance 
of it, taking care, however, to make it rather less than more offensive to the 
class of people whom he denounced." 

Comment on either of the above cases is unnecessary, beyond the obser- 
vation that such acts — proceeding in an open, public, and offensive way, to 
brand Spiritualism as insanity and crime, worthy in the one instance of out- 
rage and incarceration, and in the other, of judicial rebuke and classification 
with penal offences — proclaim in trumpet tones, the desperate character of 
the antagonism with which Spiritualism was compelled to strive. In a land 
boasting the largest amount of liberty which an individual could enjoy, the 
poorest, and even the most degraded street "rowdy" might hope for better 
protection to his personal freedom, and such property as rags and misery left 
him, were he even a heathen or an atheist, than an inoffensive and amiable gen- 
tleman could claim, if his religious convictions inclined him to Spiritualism. 

But not only this : the very judges, sitting on the bench to administer im- 
partial justice to Jew and Gentile, Christian and Pagan, deemed it in place 
to preach rehgious homilies to prisoners on the diabolism of Spiritualism, and 
utter sentences which virtually treated its religious convictions as a crime. 

The results, now as heretofore, were far otherwise than the actors of such 
dramas intended. The Spiritualists became "martyrs," and the outside world 
roused to the propriety of inquiring into their crime, became, in numerous 
instances, investigators, believers, and finally devoted adherents of those 
ranks that gained its legionaries as surely from the over-reaching virulence 
of its opponents, as from its own inherent truth and attractive beauty. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



WESTERN SPIRITUALISM — ITS GENERAL FACTS AND 

FEATURES. 

" They are slaves who dare not speak 
For the fallen and the weak ; , 

They are slaves who will not choose 
Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, 
Rather than in silence shrink 
From the truth they needs must think ; 
They are slaves who dare not be 
In the right with two or three." 

J. R. LOAVELL. 

Mrs. Packard — A Parallel Case to Mr. Eddy's — Church Trial of Miss 
Grace Davis — Revival at Oberlin and Persecution of Mrs. Schull — 
Remarkable Phenomena. 

In the preceding chapter we republished the account of an attempt, which, 
for intolerant bigotry and bold outrage, was, at that time, unparalleled in 
the brief history of Spiritualism. Unfortunately, however, the precedent af- 
forded by the assumption on th-- part of Mr. Eddy's affectionate relatives 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 3^1 

that a notorious Spiritualist must be a notorious lunatic, w.iS a dangerous, 
because a suggestive one, and operated upon the minds of others sufhciently 
to set a pernicious example to religious bigots. 

The very idea that Spiritualists could be incarcerated, and their "mischiev- 
ous influence" destroyed by denouncing them as "insane," was a hint too 
valuable to be lost uponthe unfriendly ; hence, despite the strong feeling of 
indignation which Mr. Edd/s treatment excited, the cry began to gather 
force and spread abroad in every direction : " Tire Spiritualists are all insane." 
True, it became as difficult to prove the truth of this assertion, as it had been 
in Mr. Eddy's case; still, the repetition of the story proved, as Avas expected, 
injurious to the credit of the Spiritualists, and served as a fresh weapon in 
the hands of those antagonists whose swords were already too battered for 
further use. 

Amongst the numerous attempts at this species of persecution, many read- 
ers will remember the too-notorious case of Mrs. Packard, which, though not 
actually coming within the pale of Spiritualism, is of so kindred a character with 
that of Mr. Eddy's, that we cannot omit its recital in this connection, especi- 
ally as the wrong endured by this unfortunate lady had the effect of tluowing 
her upon the sympathies of the Spiritualists, many of whom became earnest 
in her defence, and interested in the alleviation of her unmerited sufferings. 

Mrs. Packard was the wife of a Christian minister resident at Chicago. 
Her crime was the adoption of sentiments corresponding to the spiritual- 
istic faith, and her punishment three years' imprisonment in a lunatic asylum, 
at the instance of her reverend and Christian husband ! 

Her case is thus stated in the Boston Universalist, a religious Eastern 
paper, by no means in sympathy with the spiritual movement and its adher- 
ents, hence its testimony is entitled to the more attention. 

The article is as follows : 

"AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSECUTION. 

*' Several months since the Chicago papers gave the particulars of a most extraordinary 
persecution, with accompaniments of refined' cruelty, wlrich was alleged to have taken place 
in the town of Waukegan, Illinois, about forty miles south of Chicago. The statement 
was substantially as follows : 

" A Rev. Mr. Packard, a Presbyterian clergyman, was pastor of a church in that place. 
His wife greatly offended him by avowing liberal opinions, calling in question the dogma of 
total depravity, and criticizing freely other points of belief in the Calvinistic creed. The 
husband deemed, or pretended to deem, that these expressions of opinion were detrimental 
to the spiritual safety of his children, the welfare of liis chmxh, and the good of the com- 
munity generall)'. 

" Resolving to put a summaiy stop to the growth of heresy emanating from his own 
family, he managed to procure the certificate of two physicians to the charge of his wife's 
insanity, and placed her in the Jacksonville Lunatic Asylum, where she has been kept in 
confinement for three years ! No law could reach her, for the ' common law ' makes the 
husband the guardian of the wife's person, and while the certificates of physicians in 'regu- 
lar standing' hold good, the husband can keep the wife in custody. We pass over the 
circumstances of Mrs. Packard's escape, simply calluig attention to the fact that a Presby- 
terian clergyman placed his wife in an insane asylum, basing his charge of insanity on the 
grounds that he differed from her in religious opinions, and finding two physicians willing, 
on similar grounds, to grant a certificate of lunacy. Mrs. Packard, ha\'ing made her 
escape, is now in Boston, canvassing the city for the sale of the first volume of her book, 
entitled 'The Great Drama,' and has been seen by ourselves and others, not only in the 
full possession of her senses, but in the endowment of a very remarkable share of that judg- 
ment and mental balance which are the highest indications of sanity. Her persecutions are 
of so extraordinary a nature, and her statements so difiicult of credence, that she requests 
us to publish the following letters in confirmation of the facts of the case as she relates 
them. The first letter is from Judge Boardman, of Waukeganj the second from Hon. S. 
S. Jones, of St. Charles, Illinois. 



S&i HISTORY OF MODERN 

" Both are distinii^iished citizens, men of high social and political standing, and thoroughly 
cognizant of all the circumstances which Mrs. Packard alleges." 

The gentlemen whose testimony the Boston Universalist cites will at once 
be recognized by the reader as Spirittialists of high standing, but we omit 
their letters, logical and unanswerable as they are, from the fact that they 
present arguments already familiar to the spiritualistic reader, and throw no 
new light on the details above given. In addition to the testimony of the 
above-named gentlemen, Mrs. Packard published a full statement of her 
case, attested by sixteen of her fellow-citizens, all well-known and highly re- 
spectable inhabitants of Chicago. 

Another case of clerical persecution, exhibited in different form, but excit- 
ing a wide-spread interest throughout the West, was that of Miss Grace Da- 
vis, a lady, who, without any other motive than ^oure benevolence, devoted 
her remarkable endowments as a " heaUng medium " to the benefit of the 
sick and suffering, for which crime she was arraigned before an ecclesiastical 
tribunal of her own church, and then and there condemned to sufi''er disgrace- 
ful expulsion from its membership. 

The fact that Miss Grace Davis was punished by Christian authorit}' for 
obeying the cliarge of the founder of Christianity in doing the works which 
he commanded, and following practically his example, is thus recorded in a 
bjcief summary of the trial, furnished b}'' an Illinois secular paper : 

CHURCH TRIAL OF MISS GRACE DAVIS— WAUKEGAN INDEPENDENT DEIklOCRAT. 

"Dm-ing the past year and a half, scarcely a day has elapsed in which the citizens of Wau- 
kegan have not been cheered by the sight of a little airy female form, quietly gliding from 
the sick-bed of one sufferer to that of another, and, under the professed guidance of ' spirits,' 
administering such aid as was within her power.* The almost unexampled success which 
attended her efforts, and the unselfish zeal she manifested, often spending sleepless nights and 
days of unremitted toil without hope of reward, gi-adually drew upon her the ire of the Con- 
gregational Church, of which she was a member. True, many friends of that church, includ- 
ing its minister, have received the benefit of her healing powers, and she was daily proving 
the truth of Christ's promise, that ' believers in Him should lay their hands on the sick, 
and they should be healed ; ' yet, for reasons best known to hiinself, the Rev. William Rich- 
ards deemed such conduct unchristian, and gave her notice, by letter, to appear and answer 
before him to the following four charges which he preferred against her. 

' First, that she had not, for some time past, attended the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 
Secondly, that for some time past she had absented herself from all the public, sei'vices of 
the sanctuary. Thirdly, that she had attended meetings with those who revile the Bible 
and oppose, by all possible and safe methods, the existence and progi'ess of orthodox senti- 
ments. 

"The fourth and last charge was, that 'she practiced the healing art under the professed 
guidance of spirits in another sphere, and sometimes in a manner opposed to the known laws 
of health and healing.' 

"The notice gave her the privilege of appearing in person or by counsel, or both. She 
accordingly selected Hon. W. A. Boardman, Ira Porter, and C. J. Smith, Esqs., all at- 
torneys and personal friends, and prepared herself for the trial, which was held on Wednes- 
day evening last. 

" The congregation was first addressed by way of prayer from Mr. Richards, the minister 
after which he was chosen 'moderator,' and the so-called trial commenced. 

"The church voted to exclude Messrs. Porter and Smith from being Miss Davis's coun- 
sel ; and the first charge was declared sustained, without even a statement on any one's part 
that she was guilty. 1 1 finally appeared, by a statement of some member of the church, that 
she had been absent from the Sacrament only twice during eight years, so for that she was 
excused. 

"The second charge was changed for anew one, which stated that she had absented her- 

* The exact date of this article Is unfortunately omitted, but it is presumed from collateral testimony to have 
been written about 1853. 



AMERICAN SPIRTTUALTSM. 383 

self from their Sunday meetings ; and this was declared sustained in the same manner, with- 
out even an offer to show that she was guilty. 

"A motion was made to declare the other charges sustained without proof. At this stage 
of the proceedings, Mr. Porter arose to inquire what neighbor of his was willing to stigma- 
tize him as a 'reviler of religion,' yet he associated with the respondent and was amenable 
to the same charge as herself. He proceeded to show that the accusation was false and un- 
christian, but his courteous deportment, glowing eloquence, and sound logic, were too strong 
for those who sat in judgment, determined to prejudge the case, and he was ' choked down. ' 
Judge Boardman offered to prove by witnesses that the charges were false, but the church, 
prompted by their priest, refused to hear him, and the motion was carried. 

"The next thing in order was to fix the measure of the punishment. Dr. Barker moved 
to adjourn and settle the matter at some future church meeting. Judge Boardman opposed 
this proceeding, and insisted that he had a right to be heard upon this as well as any other 
portion of the trial. But Mr. Richards mterposed, infonning the judge he would let Miss 
Davis know by letter after their next meeting what action the church had taken. The 
judge denounced this step as unprecedented and inquisitorial, whereupon he was called to 
order by one Newman, a church-member, and ordered to sit down. As Judge B. did not 
at once comply with this order, Mr. Newman rushed toward him with his face flushed, and 
his fist doubled, evidently with the intention of exhibiting his pugilistic prowess. At this 
stage of the proceedings, A. J. Waterman, Esq., a police magistrate, presented himself upon 
the scene, and the meek and lowly church-member slunk back to his seat, considerably sub- 
dued. Some women screamed, and two poor dogs, who found they had been caught in bad 
company, set up a howl of shame. Mr. Richards declared the meeting adjourned without 
a vote, and so the farce ended." 

A public meeting was subsequently called at the court house, on Friday- 
evening, August 29, to review the proceedings of this trial. 

The court room Avas thronged to overflowing, and a general feeling of in- 
dignation appeared to pervade the assembly at the conduct of the professed 
Christians in their action with Miss Davis. The following is a summary of 
the proceedings, taken from the paper quoted above : 

"Mr. Ira Porter arose and stated that he had attended the trial of Grace Davis, and 
heard the principles of Christianity, as unfolded in the New Testament, trampled under 
foot by those who professed to be their exponents. 

"Mr. Porter read the charges against the respondent, and detailed the action of the 
church. 

" After an eloquent and impressive exposition of Christianity as proved in the acts of 
the benevolent healing medium, Miss Davis, contrasted with the Christianity of the 
church that expelled her from its fellowship, for following the example of its founder", he 
proposed that a committee of three be appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the 
sense of the meeting. 

" This proposition was at once carried into effect. A committee was appointed, and a 
series of resolutions prepared and read, expressive of sympathy with Miss Davis and indig- 
nant protest against her accusers. 

" Some of the latter were present, it seemed, and retorted so fiercely on the Spiritualists 
with threats and violent denunciation, that the trial not only ended in severing the connec- 
tion of Miss Grace Davis with the Congregational Church, but in causing many of its mem- 
bers, who had listened with disgust to the whole proceeding, to seek in Miss Davis's re- 
ligion for that practical Christianity which they had failed to find in the church which 
expelled her." 

As an addenda to this narrative, we here publish an account of one of 
those acts, far too numerous for record, for which the Christian Congrega- 
tional Church deemed Miss Davis unworthy to hold fellowship with them. 
The case, although reported subsequent to the trial and the medium's re- 
moval from the West, is especially selected, because it was communicated to 
the New York Spiritual Telegraph by one of the most esteemed and promi- 
nent citizens of Williamsburgh, and although, for certain personal reasons, 
the names of the parties are withlield, the reader may rely on the entiie 
authenticity of the relation. 



384 HISTORY OF MODERN 

SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH — NEW YORK, JULY 20,1857. 

" On Monday, July 6, the spiritual medium, Miss Grace Davis, was informed by one of 
her guardian spirits, a physician, that on the Thursday weelc next, in the afternoon, she 
would be called upon to heal the sick. From that day to the timt; appointed she was fre- 
quently reminded of this charge, and bidden to hold herself in readiness to be called. 
When the day arrived, however, other circumstances had driven the appointment from her 
mind, when she was hastily summoned to the bedside of a young friend [I\Iiss M.], who lay 
apparently dead, cold, and lifeless. The attack had been sudden, and the young lady's 
friends could not conceive of any cause that could have produced it. On approaching tJie 
bedside, the spirit physician reminded Miss Davis of her warning, and informed licr that 
her patient was suffering from a morbid and stagnant condition of the Ijlood, occa;^ioned 
by physical weakness and the excessive heat of the day. Under the directions of her 
guide, the medium manipulated her patient for about twenty minutes, when the circulation 
was resumed, the color returned to her face, the rigidity left her limbs, and in a few min- 
utes more she arose perfectly restored, and without the least mipleasant symptom remain- 
ing of her late alarming condition. 

" We desire to add, that this is but one out of hundreds of cases in which this wonderful 
and beneficent medium has, under spirit direction, effected cures, some of them of malig- 
nant diseases, and many in cases of suffering deemed by the physicians incurable. We 
are constantly asked, ' What good does Spiritualism do?' Let the acts of this one ad- 
mirable minister of good and use answer the question. 

" Yours, for the truth 

"A Lover of Truth." 

We too must add that we are supplied with a mass of evidence of a similar 
character, in relation to Miss Grace Davis, the despised and rejected of the 
Waukegan Congregational Christians, but our space forbids us to enter upon 
further details. 

During a season of revival, which took place at Oberlin, Ohio, about iS6o, 
when the great Evangelist, Charles G. Finney, of Oberlin College, was pastor 
o the First Congregational Church, the afflatus which was expected to carry 
divers stray sotils into the fold of the collegiate shepherd, somehow worked 
in a contrary direction, and by developing new and occult powers in the 
revivalists, succeeded in converting a large number of them into what was 
popularly known as " spirit mediums." 

Greatly perplexed by the wonderful ingenuity Avith which " Satan" contrived 
to traverse the best laid plans for capturing and creed-binding the grace of 
God, the reverend shepherd resolved to make an example of one of the re- 
cusants for the benefit of the rest, and, as there were several worthy men of 
good standing and " solid substance " gone over to the enemy, it was judged 
meet, by the church dignitaries, to sacrifice a small and weak sister for the 
example and behoof of these strong and rich brothers, in virtue of which 
manly resolution, the victim selected was an unoftending invalid lady, of the 
name of Schull, who, upon being visited by Deacon Hull, to inform her of the 
charges preferred against her, declared her inability, on the plea of ill-health, 
to attend any such citation. 

It would almost seem that this course was both expected and desired, for 
the invahd was immediately informed that the church must proceed against 
her, whether she could attend to make her defence or not. Mrs. Schull was 
taken somewhat by surprise at such an announcement, and a correspondent 
of the Banner of Light, in his report of the case, broadly hints that the sister 
charged her accusers with cowardice : first, in selecting a lady to proceed 
against, when there were so many male criminals involved in a similar offence ; 
next, in pressing the matter home upon a weak invalid ; and finally, in deny- 
ing her time to make such preparation as might avail to arrange her defence. 
"Church discipline," however, was urged as the answer to these somewhat 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. - 385 

awkward allegations, and it appears that Mrs. Schull, stimulated by a strong 
sense of the injustice practiced against her, summoned up sufficient spirit to 
plead her cause in person, and despite, of all odds, determined to be present 
at the church trial. 

The Banner of Light correspondent goes on to say : 

" The good people were assembled on the day appomted, and the meeting was opened 
with a very earnest prayer by the pastor, who said, ' O God! we pray that this meeting may 
be conducted in such a manner as will please thee. It has become necessary that this wo- 
man should be made an example of, that thy people may see how vam it is for them to 
rebel against thy government,' etc. The answers were then read, to the surprise of the 
audience, and the manifest discomfiture of the pastor, whose countenance changed consider- 
ably during the reading. At its close, he arose, evidently confused, and said there was no 
need of discussing the matter, as she plead guilty on the first two charges and that was 
enough to convict her ; the last charge she denied when she stated that she believed in 
modern Spiritualism as she did in ancient Spiritualism. He [Mr. Fim^ey] stated, ' that 
there was no such thing as ancient Spiritualism. ' 

" Mrs. Schull replied, that she believed in Spiritualism, and if she had embraced any of 
its errors, she desired to have them pointed out, that she might discard them. To this, the 
pastor answered, that the errors it embraced were so numerous that they had no time to 
discuss them, and even if they had, he did not consider it expedient for him to do so, as he 
considered it a subject that tended to lead mankmd from God, and the less we have to do 
with it, the better we are off. He further stated that Mrs. Schull, in her answers to the 
second charge, denied the divinity of Jesus by saying that he professed ' a two-fold nature, a 
carnal and a divme,' the same as other men. He said none but the good possessed the 
divine nature ; the wicked had none of it. 

" Mrs. Schull asked him some shrewd questions, to which the able and faithful shepherd 
replied that he had no time to discuss them. Several of the members present wanted the 
meeting adjourned until there was time for such a discussion, but the pastor thought better 
of it, and stated that they had better vote upon it at once, so as to get it off their hands as 
quickly as possible. The more they agitated the subject the worse it was for them. And 
so Mrs. Schull was voted out, and dismissed upon the first and second charges, because the 
pastor had not time to discuss the questions upon which Mrs. Schull' s soul was to be saved 
or lost to all eternity ! 

"In the huTnble hope that there maybe salvation outside of a creed which permits 
souls to be bandied about at the pleasure of a fallible mortal, or suffers them to be lost if he 
has not leisure to save them, we shall here insert a verbatim copy of the charges preferred 
against Mrs. Schull, and the reply which was deemed insufficient to save her from expulsion 
from the holy membership of her church. 

THE CHARGES. 

" The imdersigned represent, that sister Elizabeth D. Schull, a member of the First Con- 
gi-egational Church, in Oberlin, O., is guilty of unchristian conduct in the followmg partic- 
ulars : 

"First. We charge her in breaking a covenant with this church, in not attending the 
public worship and ordinances for two years past. Second. We charge her with heresy in 
denying the cardinal doctrines of the Bible ; viz. , the divinity of Jesus Chi-ist and the doctrine 
of the atonement by Jesus Clirist. Third. In embracmg modem Spiritualism, with its 
various errors. All of which is submitted to the church for action.' 

"S. Hull, 
E. W. Andrews." 

MRS. SCHULL'S REPLY. 
" To the First Congregational Church of Oberlin : 

" I am most happy to have this privilege of answering for myself to charges which my 
accusers have brought against me for unchristian conduct, as they are pleased to term it. 

"I would say, in answer to the first charge, that it is five years and more since I have 
attended the ordinances of the church I might excuse myself, and truth- 
fully too, by saying that the circumstances of my family have been such as to oblige me to 
work so excessively hard during the six days of the week, that I felt too much need of rest 
on the seventh to attend public worship. But that would not be all the truth. The 

25 



386 HISTORY OF AlODERN 

church had ceased to benefit me spiritually, so I chose to worship God according to the dic- 
tates of my own conscience, and under my own vine, had I a place to plant one 

I do believe in modern Spiritualism, and also in ancient Spiritualism, which I believe to be 
one and the same thing, differing only in degi-ee of development in accordance with the 
advancement of the age. I believe God's laws are unchangeable, and that the same law that 
allowed Peter and John to see Moses and Elias, and John the Revelator to converse with 
angels, stands unrepealed to-day. I believe God commissions my angel friends as minister- 
ing spirits to commune with me, and I have tangible evidence of their presence, encouraging 
me to a nobler, purer, and higher life, and strengthening me to bear, unmoved, the scoffs 
and rebukes of the time-serving. 

" I have unbounded confidence in a Supreme Being who creates, governs, and guides the 
destinies of individuals and nations. 

*' I love to contemplate the works of his hands, — the tiny flower beneath our feet, the 
starry canopy of heaven, the feathery tribes sheltered in the foliage of the solemn forests 
and chanting forth the boundless praises of the great All Father ! I only see discord in bis 
noblest work, man. Jesus gave a new commandment, saying, ' Love one another ;' he also said, 
' Judge not, lest ye be judged.' I thank God most devoutly that we are endowed with facul- 
ties to think, reason, and comprehend for ourselves, and that man is not our final judge. I 
have dared to think and believe what to me is truth ; and if my religion cannot bear the test 
of reason, philosophy, and common sense, it may go ; but if the church has a better to offer 
me, I will accept it with pleasure. 

"I have endeavored to answer to the charges as best I could in the short time allowed me 
for that purpose, and I will close by asking my accusers to give me a clear elucidation of ' the 
various errors of Spiritualism,' and point out to me those which I have embraced, and I 
will gladly relinquish them. 

*' That Spiritualism, as it now exists in its rudimental state, has many, very many errors 
clinging about it, no one denies ; but let him who knows himself to be perfect be the first to 
lift up his voice in total denunication of all the claims of Spiritualism or any belief well 
founded in truth and philosophy. 

" Whatever may be the errors of Spiritualism or any other ism, I am ready to discard 
all the errors I have embraced when convinced of them. Henceforth my church is the world, 
and humanity my brothers and sisters. 

" Elizabeth D. Schull." 

Let it not be supposed by any one who peruses those pages, that by citing 
the expulsion of Mrs. Schull from a Congregational Church as an act of per- 
secution, we would thereby deny to any ecclesiastical association the right to 
include only such members as conform, in act and word, to the strict tenor of 
its credal obligations. 

On the contrary, in the spirit of universal justice, we would defend such a 
right where and whenever claimed, and by vutue thereof Mrs. Schull had for- 
feited her privileges in the First Congregational Church of Oberlin ; but in view 
of the enormous claims to salvatory influences which all Christian organizations 
arrogate to themselves, the question still remains an open one, how can the 
" shepherds," " pastors," or spiritual guides of such associations reconcile it 
to their consciences and duty, ruthlessly to expel their members in the very 
hour and act of their most imminent peril, and that in the method adopted by 
Mr. Charles Finney, namely, of alleging ruinous errors in the new faith of 
the expelled, yet refusing to explain them, reason with her delusions, or take 
any other steps than such as vindictive feelings prompted, to save the soul 
escaping from his charge into what he himself called " eternal pedition." 
As the treatment experienced by Mrs. Schull may be taken as a fair specimen 
of the action of a large number of Christian ministers towards spiritualistic 
church-members, the moral of such histories, may be summed up in the fervent 
ejaculation, '* Thank God, the days of the fiery stake and Spanish Inquisition 
are ended ! " Were it otherwise, eleven miUions of American Spiritualists 
would not be alive now to draw the line of demarcation between their 
Christlike faith and that of their " Christian" persecutors. 

We now invite the reader to consider some of the fair blossoms which 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 387 

sprang from the rank weeds of scientific intolerance and ecclesiastical big 
otry, which we have been compelled to record. 

In Sturgis, Michigan, the progressives of the town had combined to build 
a handsome church, which v/as, by common consent, to be open to all denomi- 
nations who desired to perfonn service within its walls ; that is, of course, all 
the various forms of faith professed by the most liberal contributors to its 
erection. Amongst these were several wealthy and prominent Spiritualists and, 
it was in view, of the very generous donations which they had made towards 
the erection of this church that they deemed themselves greatly wronged 
when, upon applying for the liberty to hold spiritual meetings within its walls, 
they were rudely denied, and informed that a place set apart for Christian 
worship could not be granted for any such purposes. 

After the conflict which this unchristian conduct stirred up had proceeded 
too far for compromise or conciliation, the good people of Sturgis were one 
morning astonished by the sight of the longest procession that had ever been 
witnessed in that remote prairie town. 

It consisted of a long line of teams, each loaded ■w'ith lumber, bricks, iron, 
and every description of building material. 

Each wagon was adorned with a little flag, bearing the inscription of 
"Sturgis Free Church," and the whole of the materials, amply sufficient for 
the erection of a new and handsome building, were voluntary contributions 
from the large-hearted and unsectarian men of the district, who felt outraged 
at the narrowness of that Christianity which could not admit within its pre- 
cincts the only body of believers who could practically prove the truth of their 
faith by giving the signs their Master and Founder required of them.* 

AVe shall now make a few extracts from the correspondents' columns of the 
spfritualistic journals, dating from 1855 to 1861, recording the progress of 
Spiritualism in the West. 

The Spb'itual Telegraph quotes the following from the Chicago Times, a 
secular paper : 

" We learn that there is a boy on Bonus Prairie, by the name of Barnes, who preaches 
under what we call, for want of a better term, the 'spirit-rapping' influence. We are in- 
formed by the neighbors of the boy, persons in whom we have implicit confidence, that by 
forming a 'circle,' that is, by several persons sitting quietly around a table, the young lad 
will pass into a trance, or magnetic sleep, and in tliis condition either describe clairvoyantly 
distant scenes, diagnose and prescribe successfully for diseases, or deliver sermons, charac- 
terized by a depth of thought and eloquence of language that would do credit to our most. 
eminent and learned divines. 

" The boy is only twelve years of age, and entirely uneducated." 

A letter from the Hon. Charles W. Cathcart, dated 1858, detailing one of 
his numerous experiences in the scientific phase of Spiritualism, will doubt- 
less be acceptable to the intelligent reader. 

"SPIRIT AND ODIC LIGHTS — SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH. 

"Laporte, Indiana, y?i;/K II, 1858. 

"Editors Telegraph, — Last night it occun-ed to me to try whether those wh» could 
see spirit lights, could also see any luminous emanations from the poles of a magnet. After 
holding one of our dark circles, during which we had our usual powerful musical manifesta- 
tions, together mth a gi^eat number of lights, distinctly seen by all, of various sizes, forms, 
and motions, we placed a small electro-magnet on the table. The magnet would lift one 
hundred and fifty pounds. The battery used was a single cell of Grove's, ordinary size. 

" I removed the armature, and we all tried if we could see any light about its poles, but in 
vain. There were eight of us who distinctly saw the spirit lights, and occasionally, under 

*Vide the last chapter of St. Mark. 



388 HISTORY OF MODERN 

their radiance, the magnet, like oixr hands, faces, and forms, or anything else. Objects were 
illuminated whether the armature was on or off. WJiile trying the experiment the spirit 
lights were exhibited freely, and in answer to our questions whether the odic and spirit 
flames were the same, loud rappings responded, 'No.' 

"The spirit of Professor Hare purported to communicate with us, for, hearingof the death 
of that gTeat and good man, we asked our spirit friends if they would try and induce him to 
visit our circle. They replied that they would endeavor to bring him to us, and that when 
he arrived, they would give a certain signal, which promise was redeemed at this silling. 

"This spirit exhibited a vast amount of physical strength. He wished us to say to the 
world that he v/as still devoted to investigation, and the search for truth, as he was on 
earth ; that the communications coming through Mrs. Gourlay were from him ; that he pit- 
ied and forgave his bigoted adversaries; that he found his situation in the spirit -world far 
in advance of his most sanguine expectations; and that he would contuiue to labor for the 
promotion of truth and the happiness of humanity. 

"Charles W. Cathcart." 

The following was communicated by a regular correspondent to the 
Democratic Press, of Chicago. Besides the authointy of that journal, the 
parties who formed both the actors and witnesses of the scene, were well 
known to Messrs. Partridge and Britain, who copied the report in the Tele- 
graph, and vouched for the entire accuracy of the statement : 

"A CONCERT BY SPANISH SPIRITS. 

"RoG|rFOKD, Illinois, Angzist, 17, 1856. 

" Having been informed that Rockford was a stronghold of 'the spirits,' and being de- 
sirous to witness some of their performances, I accepted a friend's invitation to attend with 
him a circle, held at a house of a well-known and highly respected citizen of the place, last 
evening. After my introduction, the circle 'sat,' and the 'influence' soon became visible 
on the nerves of some of the sitters, one of whom, a young man, arose and delivered a 
striking address in a foreign tongue, which I was informed by a party present, who under- 
stood it, was spoken in the language of, and purported to come from, a Sioux chief. Soon 
after this, two ladies and one gentleman came under the ' influence,' and after conversing 
for some time with each other very fluently in a language unknown to me, they commenced 
singing, in various parts and the most exquisite harmony. They sang what seemed to be 
pieces from some opera, taking their several parts with highly dramatic and most thrilling 
effect. 

"The lady who performed the treble part, sang in the most perfect professional style, pro- 
ducing all the trills, cadences, and fiorititre of the most accomplished vocalists, m a man- 
ner that quite equalled Parodi or the best opera singer of the day. 

"The concert lasted an hour, not only delighting all who heard it within the house, but 
entertaining also a large crowd without, who seemed equally fascinated by the performance. 
At the close of the music, one of the mediums became influenced by an English spirit, who 
stated that the spirit vocalists had been three distinguished Spanish opera singers, and that 
the language in which they sang was Spanish, a statement confirmed by a Spanish gentleman 
present, who declared that the language was sung with the utmost purity. IMost of those 
present were well acquainted with the mediums, and testified that they had not only no 
knowledge of any language but their own, but that, in their normal state, they were utterly 
incapable of executing such music, as they were humble persons, and had never until that 
night been known as singers, musicians, linguists, or gifted in any way so as to account foi 
their extraordinary performances ! 

In Dixon, Illinois, a small, remote prairie town, Spiritualism received a 
strong impulse which has resulted in its permanent establishment there, through 
the mediumship of a blind lady, Mrs. Briggs, who became suddenly developed 
as a clairvoyant physician, diagnosing and prescribing for disease, and most 
successfully healing the sick by the laying on of hands. 

The remarkable lucidity with which Mrs. Briggs described the physical 
condition of her patients, discovered lost property, and detailed the character 
and personal appearance of her visitors, strongly impressed her neighbors 
with the superiority of spiritual over material sight. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 389 

The origin and progxess of Spiritualism in remote districts may generally 
be traced to the mediumship of some person, who, like Mrs. Briggs, were 
specially endo\ved to meet the circumstances and surroundings of special 
districts. A glance at the characteristics of the phenomena produced in 
localities far removed from the influence of older communities, will show 
that there is a design and intelligence governing it, and adapting it to the 
wants and peculiarities of each district. The following sketches "will illus- 
trate this proposition : 

"THE PHENOMENA AT THE WEST. 

"June, 1856. 
** To the Editor of the Spiritttal Telegraph: 

"Dear Sir, — Believing that you and your readers feel an interest in whatever apper- 
tains of Spiritualism, we send you a short sketch of the introduction and progress of the 
cause in our vicmity. It is now nearly one year since the manifestations claiming to be 
' spiritual ' were made in the form of raps. These demonstrations were soon superseded by 
the higher, as MTiting and clairvoyance, but more generally by a species of exercising which 
we have not seen described in any of the spiritual periodicals, hence we are inclined to be- 
lieve that it is peculiar to the West. It consists of a kind of dancing, in which the 
peculiar characteristics of individuals deceased are represented in action, as well as national 
character, and occasionally acts of marked individuality, by some or all of which means, 
spirits are readily recognized as portraying themselves in these actions, by their friends 
and kindred. 

" We think we can safely state there are over an hundred persons in this vicinity, of aU 
classes and ages, from the child of two years to the parent of seventy, who have been thus 
influenced. We have frequently seen as many as twenty, and sometimes fifty persons danc- 
ing at one time under this influence. The scene is most novel, and strikingly elicits the 
attentioii even of the most sceptical. The phenomena presented in the dance are doubt- 
less psychologically produced by spirits, as many of the movements correspond closely, if not 
identicall)', with those we see in psychological subjects, impressed by minds in the body. 

"We have many writing media, clair^'oyants, and psychometrical subjects 

The only church in our place has most unceremoniously expelled the best part of its mem- 
bers for believing that the Lord's immortality is a demonstrated fact. The clergy here- 
abouts seem to feel something as they did about eighteen hundred years ago, and the cry is 

again abroad, ' He wiU take away our place and nation. ' 

"McCann Dunn. 

"Maquon, Cox Co., Illinois. 

Another specimen of the rudimental days of Spiritualism in the West, 
is furnished in the following communication to the Spiritual Telegraph : 

SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS IN IOWA. 

"Wilson's Grove, Fayette Co., Iowa, October zt, 1856. 

"Messrs. Partridge and Britain, — Feeling much interest in what is called Spir- 
itualism, I have concluded to send you an account of the method in which, for the last five 
or six years past, my family have had communications spelled out to them. 

"A board, about two feet long and six inches wide, is nailed to the wall, so as to hang 
perpendicular. On one side of the board, an alphabet is placed. On each end of the board 
is a sm.all pulley with a cord passing over each, and attached to this cord is a finger, or index. 
Then, as three or four of us sit with our hands on the table, it rises and falls, the mdex, at 
the same time moving up and dowm over the alphabet, and haltmg at those letters which, 
when put together, spell out sentences. 

"When seated at the table, we have only to ask the spirits to spell out a communication 
when the table commences to move and the index to point to different letters. These let- 
ters are put down by us on paper, and then read by us for the first time, so that our minds 
can have nothing to do with the production of the sentences." 

The writer then gives some of the communications spelled out in this truly 
automatic though primitive mode, but as they are of a purely personal char- 
acter and Avould be uninteresting to the general reader, we omit them. 



39° HISTORY OF MODERN 

The letter is signed by the well-known and respected name of Mr. Oliver 
T. Fox. 

Colonel Kilgore, a brave and distinguished officer in the Federal army, 
sends the following account of the spiritual manifestations occurring in the 
section of county where he resided. Colonel Kilgore' s testimony may be 
received as unquestionable authority. 

REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES IN TENNESSEE. 

"CoMO, Tennessee, Febrtiary 3, 1S54. 

" Friend Britain, — Since I wrote to you last, I have been much encouraged in conse" 
quence of some interesting spirit manifestations, that are taking place in West Tennessee- 
A singular instance of spuitual power over material objects has just occurred in this neigh- 
borhood. 

"A circle was formed by some persons who conducted themselves in a very trifling man- 
ner, seeming to use the manifestations that v/ere occurring with considerable force, simply 
as a means of light amusement, when, suddenly, an immense log, some eighteen feet in length, 
which formed part of the building in which the circle was being held, split from one end to 
within two feet of the other, with an explosion like the firing of a cannon ! 

"Stolen money has been recovered by the spirits pointing out the thief, and putting the 
loser in possession of legal testimony against the offender, so clear that the thief came for- 
ward and gave up the money, and paid off another debt of long standing rather tl.an be 
prosecuted." [We are in possession of the names of the parties concerned, but in respect for 
the worthy family of the detected thief, we deem it right to suppress them. — Author.] 

"In the next county, we have several writing mediums of a very mteresting character." 

From Niles, Michigan, Mr. O. P. Drury, a prominent and highly respected 
Spiritualist, wrote to the Spiritual Telegraph as follows, in 1855 : 

"Some twenty miles from here reside several brothers and their families, three of them 
wealthy farmers, the other a Methodist preacher, all Spiritualists, by the name of Hicks. 
They are most worthy people, and highly esteemed in their neighborhood. 

•' I spent ^ delightful Sunday amongst them ten days ago, and was amused enough, con- 
sidering the reputation for folly and insanity whicli our well-informed journals fasten upon 
Spiritualism, to hear those matter-of-fact, solid men, detailing their experiences, and relating 
the remarkable cures effected by a daughter of one of the brothers. _ . ' 

"Several wonderful feats of healing had been performed through this young lady's medium- 
ship. When one day her father had his foot crushed by a horse, and arrived with it swollen 
and bleeding at his house, calling his daughter, he exclamed, ' Minerva ! for Heaven's sake 
call up the doctor,' [the spirit doctor] ; but the 'doctor' was already there, in possession of 
the medium, and influenced her to set the broken bone without any assistance. She then 
bathed the foot, and, with a few passes, removed entirely the inflammation and pain from the 
suffering limb. 

"A few hours later, Mr. Hicks put on his boot, went about his business, and scarcely 
ever after experienced any inconvenience from the accident. A neighbor of theirs, who 
sent the account to the papers, with his affidavit to the truth of the statement, relates how 
he dislocated his knee, and instead of sending for a surgeon, insisted upon calling in the aid 
of Minerva Hicks. The bystanders, scoffing at the idea of such a surgeon in such a crisis, 
tried to fool her by telling her that it was the ankle that was hurt, but the medium, looking 
up with that peculiar expression which denoted spiritual entrancement, replied : 

" ' I know my own business; ' then, calling for the aid of some of the bystanders, she di- 
rected them how, by strong yet skilful manipulations, to reduce the dislocation, after which 
she made passes over the swelled lunb, until it became entkely pauiless and as well as the 
other." 

Numerous other well-attested cases of healing are recorded of this young 
lady, as well as several other members of the Hicks family, who were de- 
veloped as healing mediums, all giving their services freely for the benefit of the 
sick in their neighborhood, wliich is now, through their influence, a stronghold 
of Spiritualism. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 39 1 

We shall conclude this chapter's notices of Spiritualism in the West with a 
few "notes of travel " from the diary of "Warren Chase, the faithful and zeal- 
ous pioneer of " the cause " in many of the remotest and least favorable dis- 
tricts. Writing from Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1853, i\Ir. Chase says : 

" Last fall, when I lectured here, I found one firm believer, one excellent ^vriting medium 
and about twenty persons who could be induced to go and hear me speak ; now, on my re- 
turn, after an absence of only six months, my audiences number several hundred, while 
many good mediums have become powerfully developed. One of the most useful is Mr. 
Healy Ackley, whose powers wg.-e unfolded in the following singular way : 

" By spiritual direction, Mr. Achley abstamed from food entirely for thirty days, during 
which time he took nothing but water and chewed spruce gum. He pursued his object 
steadily, accomplished his development as a fine healing medium, and has now gone on his 
mission to restore the sick and afflicted. He lost about thirty pounds in weight during his 
fast, but did not suffer from disease or hunger. He wallced about, but performed no labor. 
Of course aU sorts of false reports were circulated at his expense ; but the fact and its excel- 
lent and important fruits remain, and no falsehoods can get rid of them. 

It is interesting to compare the promise which Mr. Chase's report in 1853 
oflers, Avith the fulfilment which the diary of the same \ATiter supphes in 
1858-9, in a communication addressed to the Banner of Light, on the prog- 
ress of Spiritualism in the West, as follows : 

" MICHIGAN. 

"Of our cause in general throughout the country, I can speak most encouragingly, and 
perhaps, I can find no better index of this gro\vth than the spread of the Banner of Light, 
which, I am happy to say, is carried at mast-head in full sail, and readable in its ovra. 
light 

"In our o^^Tl peninsular State [Michigan], the signs of progi"ess are truly encouraging. 
At Adrian, I found our friends better systematized and stronger than ever. 

" Professor Mahan, who has been preaching against Spiritualism for more than a year 
there, has done more than all our lecturers in aiding the spread of investigation, and thus 
procurmg converts by too heartily abusing us. 

" At Coldwater, Brother F. L. Willis is ministering most acceptably to souls hungering 
for truth, and Brother Hackstaff has resumed his editorial labors, advancing the character of 
his paper from politics to the harmonial philosophy. 

"At Sturgis, a beautiful little town on the Southern Railroad, our friends have just com- 
pleted a meeting house at a cost of over four thousand dollars [the ' Free Church ' men- 
tioned in a former part of this chapter]. From Burr Oak, Janesville, and other points on 
that road, ■! have most flourishing reports, and bad reports from — 'nowhere and ortho- 
doxy ;' I propose, therefore, that the latter should move to the former, as a locality, and let 
' nobody ' preach to it ' what they say. ' 

" From Pontiac, Lyons, Ionia, and all the towns on the Northern Railroad, accounts 
pour in of the irrepressible interest that pervades each place. 

" At Ypsilanti, Brother Sampson is a host, whose formidable strength has' rallied aroimd 
him a large part of the inhabitants. 

" At Ann Arbor, our university city. Brother Stebbins has been engaged for a year, and is 
doing a good work in ' the Free Church,' callmg out the students and some of the best and 
most intelligent families in the place. 

" The circuit judge, his companion, and many of the most distinguished of the citizens, are 
frequent attendants at the meetings. 

"At Jackson, I found such a vast interest that there was no adequate supply either for 
lectures or phenomena. I was engaged there all the time. There I found Brother Anderson 
from Lasalle, astonishing the ignorant and alarming the superstitious, by his wonderful like- 
nesses of deceased persons, executed in the trance state. 

" Our friends at Albion have purchased the Presbyterian Church which they borrowed for 
me some years ago. For the last three months, they have had regular meetings in it, with 
A. B . Wliiting for the preacher. 

" There I spoke to very large and intelligent audiences. 

" Even Marshall, one of the most bigoted and superstitious towns in our little State, is 
begimimg to hold meetings and circles, and at Kalamazoo, the Unitarians, who have taken the 



392 HISTORY OF MODERN 

court house, are uniting with the most liberal minds of the place, and slowly, but surely, merg* 
ing into our philosophy. 

" From other towns of our State further west, I receive numerous calls, and hear most 
cheering accounts. 

" At Battle Creek, the most lively and enterprising station between Detroit and Chicago, 
our cause and friends are in the ascendant. 

" Three very large and intelligent audiences assembled to hear me last Sunday. 

"The best choir in the city belongs to this meeting, and a large gathering of children 
and adults met in the afternoon for a Sunday-school. Brother Peebles, one of our ablest 
and best speakers, lectures every alternate Sabbath, the other Sunday's exercises being con- 
ducted by transient speakers. 

" Five miles from Battle Creek is the little settlement called Harmonia, where stands my 
cottage on the plain. 

"Here our friends have had a liberal school for seven or eight years, which the enemies 
have reported as dead or broken up about once a month. It still lives, however, and is 
flourishing. It is entirely conducted by female teachers, and my heart is gladdened by the 
sound of its bell every half hour." 

Mr. Chase's detailed account of Spiritualism in Michigan, although contain- 
ing no items of special interest or novelty, is commended to the reader for its 
entire truthfulness, and its unassuming, yet graphic, representation of most of 
the other States which come under the generic denomination of " the West." 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED GENERAL FACTS 

AND FEATURES. 

" March, march, march ! 

Earth groans as they tread ! 
Each carries a skull. 

Going down to the dead. 
Every stride, every stamp, 
Every footfall, is bolder ! 
'Tis a skeleton's tramp, 
With a skull on its shoulder ! " 

A. C. CoxE. 

The Ashtabula County Manifestations — Mr. T. F. Coles's Testimony fOR 
Spiritualism — Sundry Manifestations. 

So many contradictory and exaggerated reports have, from time to time, 
been circulated concerning the celebrated manifestations which are character- 
ized as the "Ashtabula County phenomena," that we are happy to be able to 
present to our readers a thoroughly authentic and circumstantial account of 
their origin and progress, from the pen of an eye-witness, and one whose tes- 
timony would be considered, in any community where he was known, as au- 
thority the most unimpeachable and veracious that could be obtained. Be- 
sides the witness of this gentleman, the author has had singularly fortunate 
opportunities of verifying every portion of the history here related, and is in 
a position to affirm that the following details fall considerably short of the 
truth, as many of the most startling attendant circumstances, it has been 
deemed proper to suppress. 

The letter of our esteemed authority is but slighdy abridged from the form 
in which it originally appeared in the reprints ol the famous " Riclimond and 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 393 

Britain discussion." The private portions of the narrative which are omitted 
were communicated to the author by intunate associates of the lady refeiTed 
to as H : 

"A CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF THE SPIRITUAL PHENOMENA WITNESSED 
IN ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 

" AUSTINEUUG, February i^, 1853. 

" S. B. Britain, Esq.: Dear Sir, — In your favor of the 19th inst. you request me 
to communicate an authentic account of certain remarkable phenomena, to which I referred 
in a former letter, and also to state my relations to the parties, and what were my opportuni- 
ties for makmg observations. 

" I do not feel at liberty to publish the name of the lady spoken of \vithout her consent, 
nor can I obtain that consent for the present, as she is in a distant State, and I am unac- 
quainted with her address. * 

" I v/ill, however, make the following brief statements concerning this lady's position and 
characteristics, in justice to herself. 

•' During the fall of 1S50 she was plxmged into a state of the deepest distress by the news 
of her husband's death, which occurred on his outward passage to San Francisco. His de- 
cease on ship-board, far from family and friends, with no relative near to soothe his suffer- 
ings in the hour of sickness and dissolution, was to her a trial of no ordinary magnitude. 
She was for a long time overwhelmed \\nth an agony that seemed to threaten her very exist- 
ence ; and when, at length, the first intensity of her grief subsided, and she had fixed iipon her 
plans for the welfare of herself and two little children, she was at the greatest possible re- 
move from the state of mind which would admit of her being a party to any deception or 
intrigue, could that which I shall have to relate, have ever, by any possibility, come under tha^ 
category. I simply make this statement to show that the character, position, and surround- 
ings of the lady preclude the ordinary resort of nide and illogical minds, namely, to attempt 
accounting for the manifestations they cannot explain, upon the impertinent and uncalled-for 
assumption of fraud or imposture. 

"It was in the summer of 185 1, whilst on a visit to the family of Mr. S. M. Cowles, that 
her history as a ' medium ' commenced. 

" Soon after her arrival at Mr. Cowles' s the sounds began to be heard which were soon 
after recognized as the 'raps.' She had never before heard them, and what she had learned 
of the manifestations in other places, had not impressed her mind in favor of the spiritual 
hypothesis for their origin. It was consequently a great annoyance to her, that, wherever 
she went, or whatever she might be douig, the sounds were around her m all directions. 

" Of course the family and their friends were anxious to get communications, and she, in 
some instances, consented to gratify their vsdshes. The messages obtained by these means 
were through the rappings and alphabet. On one occasion I was kindly invited by a mem- 
ber of the family to call and see for myself what these strange things might mean. My 
mind had been so prepossessed with what I conceived to be the utter absiurdity of the idea 
that disembodied spirits produced the alleged phenomena, that I had not, until a short time 
previously, even had patience to read an article on the subject. But, for certain reasons, my 
curiosity had lately become excited, and I was glad of an opportimity to see and judge for 
myself something about ' Spiritualism.' 

" On my way to Mr. Cowles' s, I mentally arranged my test questions, and when seated at 
the table with the medium, waiting for demonstrations, I had made up my mind that the 
spirit, if any, that woidd favor me with a communication, would be that of my father. 

" In a few minutes the raps came, but did not respond to or speU out the name of 
either my father or mother, but that of a spirit child, of whom the medium could have had no 
Imowledge. At this moment the sounds were heard at three distinct parts of the table simul. 

* The lady's name and family are matters of full publicity' in Ashtabula County. 



394 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

taneously. The medium observed, ' Here are several spirits ; you have lost more than one 
child.' 'I have lost three,' I replied. After tliis, many questions were put and responded 
to correctl)^ the spirits all three rapping together in each instance. In reply to the query 
as to whether they were together in the spirit-world, the raps sounded affirmatively in the 
most animated manner, and finally they united in rapping out, ' We are all happy together. 
Earth was pleasant and we v/ere happy: Heaven is beautiful and we are full of joy.' From 
the spirit of one of my children, wlio passed away at the age of four years, it was spelled : 
' Father, I was an undeveloped child when I seemed to leave you, but I have progressed to a 
state more glorious than manhood's wisdom.' 

"This was my first experience in spiritual phenomena, and everything I had witnessed 
was unexpected and surprising to me. 

" I had not the remotest idea of holding any converse with the spirits of my little chil- 
dren, and the medium, having no knowledge of my family history, must have been equally 
unprepared for tlie scene. 

"What I have related above, was all that I personally witnessed of the manifestations 
during her visit that time. She went from Austinburgh to Marlborough for the purpose of 
attending a course of lectures on anatomy. 

"It was at tliat place that the extraordinary phenomena occurred, to which Dr. Rich- 
mond refers. 

"I have before me several letters from Dr. Whiting, of Canton, which give the details 
of several of the strange occurrences personally witnessed by himself, or vouched for by the 
most unimpeachable testimony. Suffice it to say, for the present, that mysterious per- 
formances were constantly going on in the room occupied by H. — by wliich initial letter 
of her name I shall hereafter distinguish her — and a fellow-student, principally during the 
.night, but not unfrequently, also, in the day. Mrs. H. was at that time studying surgery, 
etc., with a view to practice, and the bones with which illustrations in anatomy were made, 
were frequently moved about the room without the agency of any visible being, but par- 
ticularly the cranium would become locomotive and self-adjusting, and was found always 
looking at Iier, place it where and in what position she would. 

" At night were heard the most appalling noises, and sounds as of objects thro^^^l in all 
directions, and striking at various points on the wall, table, chairs, bed, etc. This annoy- 
ance was so constant as to deprive them of sleep, and it kept them in a state of terrible 
fear and apprehension. 

" At length, harassed and worn out with the dreadful persecution of a spirit who called 
itself * Ann Merrick,' li. left Marlborough and went to Dr. Whiting's. Thither the spirit 
followed her, and she was driven almost to despair. One night, after her arrival at Canton, 
she felt a calm and soothing influence gently passing over her mind, inspiring her with the 
confident hope that the hour of her deliverance from tliis fearful haunting was at hand. 
The next morning, in presence of Dr. and Mrs. Wlntmg, H.'s hand was involuntarily 
moved for the first time, and tlie followmg was written : 

" ' Frank,' — the name of her deceased husband — ' I have tried to communicate several 
times, but, dearest, you did not heed me. I would have saved you from the annoyance, 
would you have pei-mitted me. Never allow yourself to be alarmed by her raps. Never 
converse with or about her. Call for me ; I am still your protector, dear H., though a veil 
is between us. She is attracted by no affinity of mind, but your physical condition admits 

of her annoying you Call for higher spirits.. Be calm, 

dear wife ; do not weep It causes me to feel sad, gi-ief in you ; for though 

earth's troubles are no more, we can and do sympathize with the loved ones we seem to 

have left It is better for you, better for our little ones, and better for me, 

to see you cheerful and happy as you were when I was with you in life.' 

" * Ami ' repeatedly appeared after this, but a mental call for Frank would at once ban- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 395 

isli her. H. experienced not the slightest annoyance from that source so long as she ful- 
filled the conditions on which Frank promised his protection. 

"From Canton, H. returned to her friends in Austinburgh on the nth of October, 1S51. 
Mr. Cowles and his family were, of course, interested, and anxious to be informed respect- 
ing the phenomena which had occurred at Marlborough. In the course of the evening H. 
was conversing with her friends on the subject of her painful experiences at that place, 
when suddenly the loud raps were heard which indicated the presence of 'Ann Merrick.' 
Mr. Cowles, wishing to see something of her power, gave her a cordial welcome, to which 
she responded in loud rappings. 

"By way of giving them a taste of her quality, she performed some of her more gentle 
antics, such as only knocking about chairs, tables, etc. 

"During the whole of the next day and night, Sunday, 'Ann' was perfectly quiet. Sev- 
eral interesting communications, purporting to come from spirit friends of the family, were 
given through H. 

"About eight o'clock on the following Monday evenuig, H. had occasion to go up-stairs 
to give some drink to one of her children. The hall stair-carpet had been taken up, and 
the carpet-rods were placed at the head of the stairs. When H. was about half-way up, 
with a pitcher of water in one hand and a lighted candle in the other, the rods suddenly 
started from their place, knocking the water and light from her hands, but without else 
touching her. On hearing the noise, the family hastened to the scene of tumult, and foimd 
all the rods scattered on the floor below. 

"At the usual hour of retiring, H., Miss Rhoda Snow, and Miss Martha Cowles, went 
to the same apartment to pass the night. A door at the end of this chamber opens into a 
haU chamber, and at the opposite end another door opens into a lumber room, containing 
about fifty muskets, with bayonets; a similar number of cartridge-boxes and belts were 
hung up on the wall above. One of the lady's children was sleeping in that room, but it 
had no other occupant. The bed in which the child lay was in a direct line between the 
muskets and the bed in the adjoining chamber, which H. that night occupied. The whole 
distance between H.'s bed and the muskets was twenty-five feet. Another bed m the same 
room stood near the door of the lumber-room. After extinguishing the light, the ladies 
conversed together uninterruptedly for about ten minutes, when suddenly the carpet-rods, as 
they supposed, fell clattering on the floor. This distm-bance was followed Ijy various sounds 
in rapid succession, of different objects thrown hither and thither about the room. At 
length came a tremendous crash, so loud as to awaken and attract thither every member of 
the household. 

" When they had arrived in precipitate haste, with lights, a scene of confusion, worthy of 
Bedlam ten times over, was revealed. Piled indiscriminately on the floor were cartridge- 
boxes and belts, the carpet-rods, candlesticks, combs, brushes, clothes, and almost every 
movable object in the room. One of the muskets, with the bayonet fixed, was found 
thrown completely under H.'s bed, havingpassedinitsway thither twenty-five feet, or nearly 
the whole extent of the two rooms. The rammer was drawn from the musket and was 
found amongst the central pile. The muskets had not been used for some years, and were 
much rusted, s5 that the rammer could not have been drawn without immense force. 

" On Wednesday evenmg the following phenomena occurred in the presence cf Mr. and 
Mrs. Cowles, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Snow, Miss M. Cowles, myself, and some other per- 
sons : We were seated around a large heavy table when Ann announced her presence by 
tremendous raps. She at once directed the lights to be extinguished, but as we would not 
consent to this, she finally induced us to place lights in an adjoining chamber, leaving the 
door of communication open. H. sat with her fuigers lightly resting on the table, no one 
else touching it. After performing sundry feats of rocking, turning, and finally upsetting 
this heavy piece of furniture, Mr. Cowles seated himself upon it and challenged Ann to 
overturn it if she could. Instantly it began rocking as before, and in the twinkling of an 
eye Mr. Cowles was on the ground, the table upon him. It was replaced, and he re- 
mounted it. Again, and yet again it was tm^ned over ; and when Mr. Cowles said, ' Now, 



2g6 HISTOR y OF MODERN' 

Ann, do your worst,' a chair started from the side of the room, flew at Iiim, and struck him 
violently across the back. 

"Mr. Cowles declaimed fm-ther encounters with the spirit that night. During these 
occurrences, another table, with no one near it, was tipped over, whilst all the books and 
other articles upon it were thrown on the floor and then tossed about violently. A heavy 
bureau in the adjoining room was overturned, whilst hats, caps, clothing, and other articles, 
hanging on the walls, left their places and jumped about as if endowed with life." 

After a considerable more of similar performances, it seems that Messrs. 
Cowles and Snow induced the spirit to keep time with the furniture to their 
music on the violin ; that thus encouraged, her proceedings and feats of 
strength became more and more outrageous, until they succeeded in convers- 
ing with her by means of raps, when she announced that she was born in 
Ireland, spent the last three years of her life at Cincinnati, died in the hos- 
pital, and followed her body to Marlborough, whither it had been brought for 
dissection. The strong medium power of H. and the magnetic force still at- 
taching to her own mortal remains, served, it would seem, as associative links 
whereby she was enabled to play her ghostly pranks amongst the horrors of 
the dissecting room. 

The accounts which we have obtained of these feats from other sources, 
are thus explained on philosophical principles, but the details are too hideous 
and revolting for insertion here. 

Resuming Mr. Austin's narrative, we find that Ann had gained an advan- 
tage which she did not intend to lose again. She alleged that Messrs. Cowles 
and Snow were "kindred spirits," and she should bestow her particular atten- 
tions on them. The narrative goes on to say : 

" Mr. and Mrs. Snow remained at Mr. Cowles's through the night. Before retiring to 
her sleeping apartment, H., accompanied by Mrs. Snow, went into the parlor chamber ad- 
joining the circle room, where, amidst a general movement of all the objects in the room, a 
wash-stand, with the bowl, pitcher, and furnishings, started from the side of the room, mov- 
ing out at least four feet ; but though the motion was quick as thought, the china was not 
displaced, and not a thing stirred or was moved on the stand. 

" When the family retired, Messrs. Cowles and Snow occupied a bed in one room, and 
H. and Mrs. Snow shared one of the beds in the adjoining chamber, before described. At 
H.'s request, a candle and box of matches was left at her Tsedside. No sooner was the 
light extinguished than these articles were brought by the invisible agent from H.'s bedside 
to Mr. Snow's, and there put into his hands, evidently with the design of removing them 
from H. 's reach. 

" Soon after, a candlestick, shoes, brushes, combs, and various heavy articles, began to fly 
round the bed of the gentlemen, touching them sometimes, without hitting them hard, and 
falling in wild disorder all around them. The case was different when pillows or clotliing 
were used as missiles. These were dashed directly in their faces. The cartridge-boxes 
swung on their nails, and the guns and swords kept vibrating so as to keep up an mcessant 
clicking. 

" The spirit kept articles, in this w:ay, in constant .motion for some time, when a bright 
thought seemed to occur to her. 

" The ladies had hitherto been more annoyed than distressed at the tribulation of the 
gentlemen, when ' Ann ' pulled out a quantity of straw through a small hole in the ticking 
of the mattress under their bed, and used it in whipping their faces. She also jerked the 
pillows from under their heads, and the bedclothes from beneath' and off" them, besides 
keeping up an incessant movement of the chairs and other articles of furniture in both 

rooms, etc On Thursday, October 16, the father of H. arrived, full of 

scepticism and resolutely determined ' to put an end to the whole proceedhig.' 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 397 

"During his first night's residence in the house, he received full and satisfactory proof 
that 'Ann Merrick' \vouldnot acknowledge his authority in the premises, and that he must 
submit to let her have her own way, nolens volens. 

"On Friday evening, October 17, a lady came to Mr. Cowles's house on a visit, and, de- 
siring to see something of the doings of the wonder-working 'Ann,' agreed to pass the 
night with H. 

"They retired to rest, H.'s father occupying a bed in the adjoining room, the door of 
communication being open. The lady occupied one bed and H. another. 

"As soon as the light was put out very hard rapping was heard, and the lady, terrified, 
went to H. 's bed for protection. From this, however, she was so violently repulsed, that, 
supposing H. had struck her, she exclaimed, * What are you striking me for, H ? ' 'I have 
not touched you,' was the reply, but she was struck again and again; and when she tried to 
get into bed she was so forcibly pushed back that she retreated in extreme terror to the gen- 
tleman's room for protection. From thence, however, she was pelted with stockings and 
garments of various kinds, until she succeeded m making her way from the haunted cham- 
bers into another apartment 

" On Saturday evening, October 25, two ladies called at Mr. Cowles's, both sceptical in 
regard to the strange phenomena alleged to be occurring there. On this occasion, it 
seemed as if Ann felt called upon to make some imusual demonstrations. About 7 o'clock, 
as one of the ladies was passing, with H., through a lighted chamber, a bed-quilt, thickly 
stuffed, left its place and moved towards the lady, when, passing over her head and brushing 
gently her cap, it dropped in a heap at her feet. Various other things began to move 
about in a similar manner, until but a few minutes had elapsed ere the lady was thoroughly 
convinced of the genuine and supra-mundane character of the phenomena. 

" Passing from the chamber, and descending the stairs, they saw the chairs in the hall 
move from their places and come to meet them. Entering a room from the hall, contain- 
ing, amongst other things, a wood-box, rocking-chair, and table, a large stick of wood flew 
from the box, the rocking-chair was overturned, and the table moved itself out from the 
wall to the centre of the room. Without pausing in this room, they passed into another 
and seated themselves on a heavy settee furnished with rockers. 

"Instantly the settee was rocked with frightful power and rapidity. No two men could 
by their combined efforts, have given such a motion to that heavy settee with the weight of 
two persons sitting on it. The lady finally escaped from that terrible rocking and her 
incredulity about the same time. 

"On Sunday evening, October 26, H., Miss Sarah Austin, and Miss Martha Cowles, 
retired to the same room to pass the night. 

"Soon after they withdrew such a scene was transacted there as altogether transcends the 
power of description. It seemed as if ' Ann' had obtained a reinforcement from pandemo- 
nium itself. The father of H., who was in a room separated from hers by the hall-cham- 
ber, hastened below for a light. As he descended the stairs, a chair followed him bodily, 
rocking itself on the floor and stairs as it tumbled down, making a teiTible racket. 

"In the hall he met Mr. Cowles with-a light, and they returned together up-stairs. At 
the door of his own room he met the pitcher and bowl, taken oflf the wash-stand and 
placed exactly in the entrance of the door. 

" On entering the room of the ladies, where the noise was tremendous, they saw a heavy 
trunk, closely packed, rocking and rolling about ■with such force as to shake the whole 
house. 

"Other trunks were overturned, and their contents scattered on the floor. Almost 
every movable object in the room was piled up in a heap on the floor. At the earnest re- 
quest of H. , they left a lighted candle in the room and retired. Instantly, the candle was 
put out by some unseen agent, and then the universal uproar and tossing about of furni- 
ture recommenced. 

"Another light was called for, mstantly dashed out, and the same scene renewed. 

"After a light had been procured and a thu'd time extinguished, every soimd was sud« 



398 HISTORY OF MODERN 

denly Lushed, and for some minutes a death-like and ominous stllhiess prevailed. Then 
the silence was broken by strains of the most exquisite harmony. It seemed like mstru- 
mental music, yet there was no instrument in the house, or withui forty rods of it. But 
there, in H.'s room, apparently close to them, music was heard by all in the house, sweeter 
than its auditors had ever before listened to. Some familiar airs were performed, but the 
most touching and delicious melodies were strange to all who listened to that mysterious 
music. It was thus that ' Ann ' seemed to have made her final adieu. 

" H. has never, for aught I know, heard more of her since. 

"After H. left Austinburg, what purported to be the spirits of her departed friends ex- 
pressed an earnest desire that she should yield herself to their influence and become a me- 
dium for communication from them to the world. To this she was most determinedly 
opposed. Her plans were fixed, and she could not be induced to change them. 

' ' There was a considerable amount of magnetic influence exercised over her, but she suc- 
ceeded generally in throwing it off. It was after this that she returned to the town of Marl- 
borough, where the strange part of her experiences occurred. 

" She had resumed her medical studies, under the direction of her former instructor. 

" I have since had arelation of the occurrences that transpired from H. herself; but it is 
a long story, and I cannot trust my memory to repeat it correctly. The day before the ap- 
pearance of the spirit that succeeded 'Ann Merrick,' the brain had been taken from the cra- 
nium of a female subject, and dissected, and a portion of the muscles also taken up about 
one eye. The arms of the body were extended on each side, and the room was then 
carefully locked up for the night. 

" That night H. and her room-mate, and fellow-student were alarmed by the most 
frightful sounds. Trembling with apprehension of, they knew not what, they covered their 
heads with the bedclothes ; but when at last they uncovered them, there, standing by their 
bedside, they beheld the spectre of the corpse that they had been dissecting, all reeking and 
ghastly, as they had left it on the table, save that one of the arms was folded across the 
breast, a change which was actually found to have taken place when the remains were 
examined. 

" So tremendous were the sounds produced by this strange agency that crowds of people 
were attracted around the house where they occurred. The raps were more like those 
occasioned by the blows of a sledge-hammer than the ordinary spirit detonations. 

" The manifestations at last became so fearful and alarming, that H. and her room-mate 
were afraid to pass the night alone. On one occasion H. requested her brother to remain 
in the room v^ith them, and in the course of the night, being greatly disturbed, she begged 
him to ascertain what it was that was being knocked about around their bed and over 
their heads. He approached the bed, and saw by the moonlight, a human skull, dancing 
up and down over their heads.' 

'* He watched the motion of the skull for a considerable time, and then attempted to re- 
move it ; but it was only by the exertion of a good deal of strength and agility that he 
succeeded. 

" But I must close this communication. For the convenience of narrative, I have spoken 
of the agents in these transactions as ' spirits,' but whatever may have been the cause of 
the phenomena, there was no voluntary agency of man, woman, or child, in their produc- 
tion. 

•' The foregoing is but an outline of some of the principal facts. Such as it is, I submit it 
to the consideration of the scientific. 

" Very truly, yours, L. M. Austin." 

" The foregoing statement is correct so far as we personally witnessed the phenomena 
therein related. 

"L. M. CowLES. Rachel Cowles. 

S. H. Snow. Rhoda Snow. 

Ann J. Snow. Sarah H. Austin." 

Martha H. Cowles." 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 399 

From many other sources the author has verified the highly respectable 
testimony of Mr. Austin in every particular, and obtained, in addition, a num- 
ber of evidences of a still stranger kind, concerning the mediumship of the 
lady referred to above. As they are chiefly of the ghastly character that be- 
longs to the dissecting room, or relate to the spirits of those whose bodies 
had been thus operated upon after death, we forbear their relation. 

Besides this, it seems- that the medium to this day retains her invincible 
dislike to the subject of spiritual manifestations, and strenuously disavows 
any connection mth them. Despite, and perhaps in consequence of this aver- 
sion and stubborn resolution, she is still attended by ghastly sights and sounds 
as the author has personally proved. Nevertheless we do not feel at liberty 
to point further to the lady's name or personality, though both have been the 
subject of wide-spread celebrity, whilst there are scores of living witnesses 
who can bear testimony to the occurrence of similar, and even tar stronger 
and stranger phenomena than any above detailed, tlirough the mediumship 
of the same person. 

The reader who is familiar with the autobiography of Mr. George Redman, 
the late great physical medium of Boston, will recognize in "Ann Merrick" 
an old acquaintance, her spirit purporting to be the author of an immense 
variety of demonstrations occurring in Mr. Redman's presence, to which the 
appellation of physical force is eminently graphic. 

Pursuing our observations still further west, and south, we once more invite 
the reader to glance over the "digest of correspondence" found in the col- 
umns of the spiritual journals from 1850 to i860. 

TELEGRAPH PAPERS — 1854. 

"Mr. Cowey, of Greensburgh, Indiana, vwites an account of spiritual manifestations which 
have just commenced in the family of General Foley, one of the most respectable and influen- 
tial citizens of that place. The general and his family had been previously sceptical, but 
were incited to inquiry by the recent visit and lectures of Warren Chase, at Greensburgh. 
One evening, after the family had retired to bed, the young men heard strange rappings, 
which induced them to rise and seat themselves round a table, when the raps increased in 
number and volume, and most satisfactory communications were obtained. 

"At subsequent sittings, the table was moved whilst General Foley was sitting upon it, 
though he weighs some two hundred pounds. 

"Tliese and many similar occurrences have fully convinced the family of the reality of 
a spu-itual presence and power." 

The manifestations occurring in this family, so highly distinguished by so- 
cial position, were noticed in the local papers of the time and place as "very 
remarkable, and worthy of scientific investigation," whilst far more wonderful 
and continuous evidences of spirit presence transpiring in the household of 
the venerable and benevolent Seth Hinshaw, in the same neighborhood, were 
stigmatized as the efiects of "fanaticism" and evidences of "delusion and 
folly." 

The world has judged more fairly than these time-serving editors, however, 
and given to the unostentatious munificence of the good Quaker's life a ce- 
lebrity which makes General P'oley's spiritual experiences remarkable only be- 
cause they occurred in Seth Hinshaw' s vicinity. As a sketch of this estima- 
ble Spiritualist will be given in a forthcoming volume, we pass on to notice 
the report of Western Spiritualism, written for the Spiritual Telegraph by 
Mr. F. Coles, at that time the travelling agent of the celebrated rapping and 
test medium, Mrs. Coan. Mr. Coles's report will be found in the following 



400 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

extracts, to be somewhat at variance with the character of a " spiritual detec- 
tive," which he subsequently assumed : 

"During the month of October, we held tHrty public meetings in some of the principal 
towns in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. Notwithstanding the tightness of the times and 
prostration of business, we have succeeded in interesting very large audiences, sufficiently 
liberal, moreover, to pay our expenses, which average from ten to twenty dollars a night. 
We adopt the independent plan of paying our own bills, and trusting to a small admittance 
fee of ten or fifteen cents for compensation. We think this a better plan than to have 
free meetings and burden our friends with expenses they may not be able to meet. 

"Saul, the son of Kish, was willing to give Samuel, the seer, a quarter shekel of silver 
[about thirteen cents] to divine the whereabouts of his father's lost asses. Surely fifteen 
cents is not too much for the divination of lost friends in the spirit-world ; and none gi-umbled 
at our prices, save now and then a thin, sharp-faced fellow, who is not conscious of having 
any friends to inquire for or a soul to lose. Such ones, of course, are unwilling to 
give something for nothing. They will not even let a sympathetic tear cross the bridge of 
their noses for fear of being obliged to pay toll. 

" RocKFORD, Illinois. — This is one of the finest cities in Illinois. We held two meet- 
ings there, and shall give three more. Regular meetings are held each Sunday, and every 
good speaker who has visited the West has found a warm welcome and a good audience 
at Rockford. There are six or eight hundred Spiritualists in town and the cause is in a 
very flourishing condition 

" Stirling, Illinois. — We held two meetings here during court week. Of course 
the la\^'yers were in attendance, and the spirits stood their cross-questioning triumphantly. 
Judge Eustace was on the committee of investigation, and in his report to the audience 
frankly confessed that he had witnessed that which he could not account for, and that he 
was positive no trick or collusion had been practiced 

"Milwaukee, Wisconsin. — This is the largest city in Wisconsin. We had three 
meetings, the weather being stormy every night ; yet our audiences were large, the mani- 
festations very good, the reports of the committee favorable, and the press more than usu- 
ally honest and impartial. There are many staunch friends here, and the cause is fully able 
to stand alone. 

"Palmyra, Wisconsin. — We had fine meetings in this to\vn, and found some warm 
friends. Mr. Severance, proprietor of the Palmyra Hotel, refused to receive any compen- 
sation, either for our board or the use of the hall in which our meetings were held. Mr. 
S. , and nearly all his household are Spiritualists, and to him and his lady we are mdebted 
for their many acts of kindness, and a cordial invitation to visit them again 

"Dubuque, Iowa. — This beautiful city lies on the west side of the Mississippi and con- 
tains 15,000 inhabitants. Ours were the first spiritual meeingsever held in Dubuque. Our 
first and second meetings were but slimly attended, owing to rainy weather ; our third and 
last drew out several hundreds and created immense astonishment at the phenomena. 

" The people looked for jugglery and nonsense, and were surprised to witness manifesta- 
tions that their oldest and wisest heads could not account for. Judge Hamilton, one of the 
first men in Iowa, was on the committee, and publicly stated that he knew no way of ac- 
counting for what he had witnessed, save the spiritual hypothesis. Mr. William Longhurst, 
formeidy of Buffalo, a good speaking medium, now resides at Dubuque, and has succeeded 
in getting up quite an interest. A private circle is held once a week, and the success of 
Mrs. Coan's meetings has awakened the desire to investigate through many other circles. 

"John F. Coles." 

The following statement was sent to the Spiritual Telegraph by one of 
the most thorough and reliable spiritualists in the country : 

" In the month of November, 1855, Mr. Henry Bathurst a young man of about twenty- 
two years of age, called upon us one evening as we were about to form a spiritual circle, 
which he joined at our invitation. Mr. Bathurst is well skilled in phonography, is our 
near neighbor, a highly esteemed member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and no 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 401 

Spiritualist, yet he is willing to bear his testimony to what follows. A boy thirteen j'ears 
old, who had not even learned to WTite his o\\'n alphabet, was the medium, and after we 
had formed our circle, the spirit of Mr. Bathurst' s father commenced \\Titing phonogi'aphy, 
and then presented it to Mr. B. Mr. B. acknowledged the characters, but said the vowel 
marks were omitted. The boy agam took the paper, and supplied the deficiency, whenMr. 
B. pronounced it to be complete phonography ! In the course of the evening the spirit 
wrote in what he called reporting style, and ftlr. Bathurst, the only one present who could 
read it, endorsed its correctness, and read it in full. 

"At another time this boy was controlled by a female German spirit, who requested him 
to write a letter for her, in German, to her son, living in the county west of this, a man by 
the name of Linebaugh. The letter was accordmgly written through this boy, and sent to 
Wr. Linebaugh, who states that it was German, purported to come from his mother, v/ho 
had lived and died in Germany, and gave correctly her name, the place where she had resided 
and passed away, etc. The particulars even of the existence of such a person were un- 
known to any one in this country. Here, then, is a lad who cannot write in our owti com- 
mon alphabet, writing correctly in phonographic characters and German, and giving histo- 
ries and facts of persons of whose existence he could not have the remotest idea. 

" We have spirit healing and clairvoyance amongst us. Spirits from our old residence in 
Pennsylvania often pay us a visit, and communicate to us with an intelligence and foresight 

truly astonishing 

"Yours, truly, 

"Francis North. 

"Valley, Washington County, Iow.\, January 11, 1S57." 

Spiritualism has ever been rife amongst the North American Indians ; but 
its manifestations generally differ so widely from that which prevails amongst 
the whites, and the source by the Indians themselves is claimed to be so 
different to that of their civilized neighbors, that we have deemed it fitting to 
devote a special chapter to the subject. We shall, however, notice the ex- 
perience of a very distinguished Sioux warrior, whose " mediumship," as we 
may term it, so closely resembles the phases familiar amongst ourselves that 
we may justly rank them in the same category. 

An eminent traveller, writing to the Banner of Light, thus describes the 
spiritnal endowments of the son of the forest, Spotted Tail : 

"Spotted Tail, chief of the Brute Sioux, recently enunciated his views of the spirit land 
to a party of whites at North Platte, Nebraska. After death he had an idea that the spirit 
always moved about. 

"He had frequently heard voices, in the stillness of the forest, from friends that had 
departed. 

" He once went to the war with the Pawnees. He heard a voice calling to him from 
the top of a high hill. He went up to the top of the hill, and the voice continued calling 
to him from the timber. He looked about and found no one there. It was a spirit. The 
voice told him what to do ; he believed it, and, following the advice, went into the fight and 
came out victorious. 

" Thrillingly interesting was our conversation with this great Sioux chief, through the in- 
terpi'eter, relative to the religious views of his people. 

" They believe in one great spirit, infinite, changeless ; that smiles in the sun, whispers in 
the winds, and dances unseen in the shimmering waters of seas and rivers. They believe 
the soul is immortal and pursues occupations in the future life something similar to what 
employs it here. Bad Indians go to poor hunting grounds ; good and brave ones ascend to 
glorious lands, seas, and forests, where fish, game, and every earthly delight, await them ; 
where streams are crystal, flowers deathless ; where dusky maidens meet their lovers, sport 
to the rhythm of the winds and waves, and never Christian robbers enter. This chief told 
us distinctly that many of his tribe saw blanketed ghosts ; and spirits returned from their 
heavenly hunting gi^ounds to counsel their mortal brothers. 

" When the Indian is about to die, he said, spirits came for them, and were often so clearly 
visible that their relatives and friends, seeing them around the lodge, would shoot arrows at 
them in the air, in the hope of preventing their carrying their loved ones away. They' have 
set seasons for talking with and making presents to the dead, and they constantly send' mes- 
sages by the dying to those who have gone before." 

26 



402 HISTORY OF MODERN 

The cases of persecution which follow in the track of Spiritualism ave so 
numerous and so constantly interspersed with the more agreeable details of its 
triumphant progress, that our fidelity to the truth of history compels us to 
make frequent mention of them ; and we shall close this chapter by noticing 
two instances of this kind which acquired a considerable share of notoriety 
about this time. It Avas commonly supposed that the striking and ghostly 
manifestations which we have recorded in the earlier part of this chapter 
created a considerable prejudice against the subject in the district where they 
transpired, and this may in some measure account for the disgraceful result of 
a prosecution which took place in Monroe Centre, Ashtabula County, Ohio, 
in relating which Mr. Laird, a worthy citizen of that place, says that, " in a 
mock judicial proceeding which has just taken place here, before a Justice of 
Peace, ten persons, most of them children, were fined from five to ten dollars 
a piece, with costs, for no other crime than being Spiritualists, and some of them 
mediums. The prosecution was instituted by a church-member." 

Still another instance of the bitter warfare through which Spiritualism has 
been compelled to march to its triumphs, is reported in the TelegraJ^h papers 
as follows : 

" Mr. M.W. Potter, of Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, v/rites that, two years ago, he 
became interested in Spiritualism, and, for purposes of investigation, formed a circle in his 
own family. After sitting a few evenings, his hand was moved to write a request, wholly 
without his own volition, that he would go apart into a room by himself, and await the in- 
fluence of the spirits. 

" These injunctions he obeyed ; and, in compliance with further directions, kept his room 
for several days, during which time he became an excellent automatic writing medium. He 
was in the meanwhile entirely cured of a painful disease which had hopelessly afflicted him 
for eight years. His confinement to his room, however, and his sudden and almost miracu- 
lous restoration to health, excited the superstitious terror and indignation of his bigoted 
neighbors. They surrounded his house, forced themselves into his presence, and threatened, 
if he did not give up Spiritualism, they would procure his incarceration in a lunatic asylum. 
Finding him inflexible, they laid such charges against him as finally induced the physicians 
who had failed to cure him to grant a certificate of lunacy. 

" Thus armed, they broke in upon his home, forced him from it, and bore him off to the 
insane asylum at Columbus, Ohio. 

*' Here he remained for seven weeks ! His friends at home, knowing him to be perfectly 
sane, made application for his release. The case against him, however, had been so strongly 
represented by his bigoted neighbors, and the prejudice against Spiritualism was so strong, 
that it required all the representations of the physicians and officials of the asylum to set 
him free. This, however, was ultimately accomplished, and Mr. Potter permitted to return 
to his home." 

In relating the particulars of this atrocious violation of the liberty of the 
subject and the rights of conscience, Mr. Potter remarks : "They could not 
carry off or affect my belief along with my body, and that is full compensation 
for the outrage I have endured, and enables me truthfully to say, in the 
strength and light of my new faith: 'Father, forgive them; tliey know not 
what they do.' " 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM, 403 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE SOUTH. 

"The outward world is dark and drear, 
When friends we love are seen no more ; 
But hark ! their happy songs we hear 
In music from the spirit shore. 

"We wake no more by night to mourn ; 
They are not lost, but gone before ; 
And still their loving thoughts are borne 
In music, from the spirit shore." 

Psalms of Life. 

Spiritualism in Texas — The South and its Characteristics in regard to 
Spiritualism — Tennessee: Dr. Ferguson and his "Little Daughter" — 
"Wonderful Child Medium of Springfield — Memphis — The "Memphis 
Enquirer," and the "Leath Orphan Asylum — The "Tables Turned" 
ON the Opposition. 

Passing over an immense mass of testimony, furnished by every city, town, 
and village of the far West, concerning the universality as well as the power 
of the great spiritual outpouring, and omitting, for lack of space, any details, 
but such as bear witness to the variety of methods observed in the manifes- 
tations, we must now invite our readers' attention to some of those more dis- 
tant sections of country in the New World, which might have been expected 
to escape the contagion, if such it were, of a mere psychological movement, 
communicated by immediate intercourse from one district to another. 

In this category we might reasonably include the Gulf States, Texas, Ar- 
kansas, Florida, California, Oregon, and the still more remote lands of South 
America. The following chapters, however, will dissipate sucli an illusion, 
if the reader has not already been better informed on this topic, and give 
some idea of the working of an universal force amongst people predisposed, 
by local circumstances and sun'oundings, to entertain widely different opin- 
ions on similar subjects. Our first extracts, from the Spiritual Telegraphy 
will refer to the gradual growth of Spiritualism in the still remote and sparsely 
populated State of Texas. 

The following communication is dated 1856, and is from a regular and val- 
ued correspondent, Mr. Ebenezer Allen : " 

"SPIRITUALISM IN TEXAS. 

" Galveston, July 2, 1856. 

"Gentlemen, — Some five months ago, a letter from Mr. Henry' Force, of Madison, 
Orange County, Texas, appeared in the Telegraph, giving an account of the singular appa- 
rition of a black hand in presence of several respectable gentlemen and ladies, while the me- 
dium, Mrs. A. E. Force, anticipating a communication from the spirit-world, sat waiting 
at the table in the attitude of writing 

"In that portion of Texas where Mrs. Force resides. Spiritualism was of spontaneous 
growth. Mrs. Force was unexpectedly acted upon by mysterious powers, and she became, 
at wliat precise date I am not informed, a medium of superior capacities. 

* ' A gentleman living about two miles from her dwelling, had a favorite servant who was su*f> 
fering under a severe rlaeumatic attack. He was in great pain and unable to rise from his bed. 



404 HISTORY OF MODERN 

One dark, stormy night in January last, she was roused from her slumber, under the influence 
of a strong impression tliat she must get up immediately and go to her neighbor's. She 
wakened her husband, who at first tried to dissuade her, but in vain. The impression was 
imperative and could not be resisted, and he consented to accompany her. Travelling over 
a prairie through deep mud, and facing a violent wind, with the rain falling in torrents, they 
reached the liouse of their neighbor an hour or more past midnight. At her request she 
was conducted to the room of the negro. She found him in great agony, and immediately 
commenced making passes over him. She continued her manipulations at intervals, as di- 
rected by her impressions, and before moi-ning the servant was restored to health. So com- 
plete, indeed, was the cure, that, at an early hour, he went to work as usual, and continued 
his labor without any relapse or inconvenience. 

"Other examples might be related but for want of space. Her mediumsliip is not lim- 
ited to the department of healing, and I send you some communications recently written in 
her hand. 

"Under date of June 7 is the following, addressed to J. H. C. : 

"'Dear Mortal Friends, — We will, to-night, speak of the condition of other 
worlds. We may not tell anything altogether new, but all good spirits can add their testi- 
mony. Your system of worlds is progressing and becoming more refined. 

"'The atmosphere, also, is becoming more suitable to the spiritual progress of your 
race. 

" ' When earth's inhabitants shall have progi'essed still further, they wiU have more per- 
fect organizations — more love and wisdom. Then, new mventions, or rather, new appli- 
cations of the agencies under their control, will be discovered by them. Then steam-power 
will be dispensed with, and in its stead you will use electricity. 

" ' Good-night, dear friends.' 

" Question [By one of the circle]. — Spirits say the earth is receding from the sun. 
What is the cause ? 

^^ Answer. — The attractions are growing weaker in that direction and stronger in the 
opposite. 

" Q. Can spirits divulge and suppress crime? if so, how long before they will do it ? 

"^. Tliey do so now, in many instances. We think, probably in ten years it will be quite 
common ; but mediumship is not properly established yet, so as to admit of dependence 
on communications. Evil spirits will communicate, as well as good, and mortals cannot 
always be guarded on that point ; but, as a general rule, judge the spirits by what they 
write. Good-night. 

"Many other communications of an interesting nature are furnished by Mr. Ebenezer 
Allen, proving the general coincidence of spiritual teachings everywhere, and the growth 
and progress of the cause in his section of country." 

About the same date, another correspondent of the Spiritual Telegraph 
writes of an entirely different section of the State in the following despond- 
ing tone : 

letter from texas. 

"Victoria, Texas. 

"Charles Partridge, Esq. — I have finally awakened some little interest here, on 
this all-important subject, and many respectable citizens are beginning to investigate and 
discuss the possibility of intercourse between the visible and invisible worlds. The clergy 
are busily engaged in trying to suppress inquiry among their flock, but occasionally one 
breaks out of the orthodox pen, and, from curiosity or some other motive, attends one of 
our feeble circles to see what he can, and goes off wondering if this can be a reality. We 
are moving slowly but surely 

" I feel a little encouraged. Eighteen months since I settled in this place : at first I found 
but two individuals here who had the moral courage to avow their sentiments on this sub 
ject. Now we number about twenty, that dare hold circles, but, unfortunately, we are not 
systematized. I have not been able to impress upon the friends the importance of regular 
meetings; consequently, we have no well or reliably developed mediums. 

"This whole country is now prepared to hear the subject discussed. If we only had a 
good trance speaking medium, — one who is posted up sufficiently to meet the clergy in 
debate, — Spiritualism would prevail to a very great extent. 

" Mr. Forster paid us a flying visit, but left very soon. To my knowledge, he was get' 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 405 

ting Invitations from every to\\Ti and village in Western Texas, to visit them. I will take 
the responsibility to say that a good lecturer would be received by the people of Westerp 
Texas with open arms and enthusiasm. A majority are open to conviction, 'but,' say they. 
' we want to hear and see those things.' 

"Your attention to the above willgi-eatly oblige an old subscriber. 

"J. W. Maulding." 

About four months after the publication of Mr. IMaulding's letter, a secular' 
paper, the Texas Advocate, published its version of Spiritualism in Texas, 
through a communication understood to be the opinion of the editor himself. 

"THE SPIRITS IN VICTORIA, TEXAS. 

"A correspondent, in whom we have perfect confidence, relates that the spirits advised 
some members of his family not to take passage on the train that evening, but declined giv- 
ing any reason for imparting this advice, save that the trip would be profitless of enjo}anent. 
When the train was about four miles from town, the locomotive came in contact with two 
planks, which some desperate fellow had placed across the track. The engine was materially 
damaged, but no pei'son sustained any injuiy. As to ourselves, we can testify, by personal 
experience, that the spirits are havmg a fine time here. They have pretty much got me to 
stop using tobacco, which, I think, is very sensible. I have been at several circles, and have 
come to the conclusion that the spirits are universally polite and gentlemanly, or ladylike, 
according to sex ; that while they are higher, purer, better than we possibly can be in this 
life, they are not infallible. The long and short of my investigation establishes absolutely, 
that the sphits of our depated friends do communicate with us. ' ' 

This was a great admission for a Texas editor in 1856, amongst a some- 
what dangerous and priest-ridden community. 

One more verbatim report must be inserted as illustrative of the modes in 
which conviction reached leading minds in Texas, and established that large 
and imposing State as what it now really is, namely, a rall}ang point for 
Spiritualism of the most liberal and progressive character. 

The following was wTitten by a prominent politician and esteemed citizen 
of Houston : 

" Houston, Texas, November, 1859. 
" To the Editor of the Spiritual Telegraph : 

"Dear Sir, — For about seven years previous to Januar}', 1855, various stoi-ies of table 
tipping, spirit rapping, and other similar wonders, had been related to me, and I had often 
gone to the places where such things were to be seen, but always arrived a little too soon or 
a little too late. No demonstration could ever be had when I looked on. I knew the 
parties to be sincere and truthful persons, but seriously regretted that they could have no 
rapping exercises at a time when I could see them. My presence seemed to destroy the ex- 
hibition. Of course I strongly suspected delusion. Years rolled on. My heart's desire 
and prayer was that I might see something that would lead to a satisfactory conclusion. 
At length, in January, 1S55, at San Antonio, in this State, one day, being on a business 
tour through that region, I was standing in front of the principal hotel in conversation with 
several gentlemen, when the rappings became the subject of remark, and I expressed my 
desire to see something, — anything that a reasonable mind could call proof of the fact. of 
spirit communion. One of the gentlemen told me there would be a 'circle' at his house that 
night, and if I would come round, perhaps there might or might not be a demonstration; 
but he wished me to come anyhow, as the weather was pleasant, the distance short, and the 
company would be intelligent. I went : five persons in all were assembled, and became 
seated at a round table, upon which were paper and all proper writing apparatus. It was 
proposed first to lay hands on the table and sit quiet. In about five minutes spirits an- 
nounced themselves by certain convulsive motions in three of the persons ; pens or pencils 
■were emphatically seized, and after some wild scribbling, one led off into a connected sen- 
tence, announcing the presence of very many spirits anxious to communicate. It was then 
proposed that each person at the table should have one chance, going round from the medium 
to her left, and so on. I sat immediately on her right, and, of course, was the last. I 
improved the occasion, however, by watching all that was done or said. Things proceeded 



4o6 HISTORY OF MODERN 

in Ihe most quiet and orderly way, all the parties, except myself, having been there before, 
aad the whole affair being perfectly familiar to them. Upon the arrival of my opportunity, 
I framed in my own mind the following wish: ' If there be a possibility that spirits of the 
departed can communicate with mortals, let some rational proof thereof be now given.' 
With perfect spontaneity the hand of the medium wrote: 'Do not regret your past ex- 
Deriences ; they have all helped to develop your mind, and enable you to arrive at jirimary 
truth. ' 

" Of course there was nothing in the words of the communication startling. The sen- 
tence was finished. The medium's hand gave a peculiar g}'ratory motion, and executed the 
fac-simile signature of a distinguished United States Senator, who had been a friend indeed 
to me, but whom I had seen buried nearly six years before that vvriting ! I saw my departed 
friend's name, written as if by his own hand, a thousand miles from the place of his burial, 
among the most perfect strangers, and so strikingly like his proper hand that, had I not seen 
It written by another, I would cheerfully have testified it to have been in Ms own proper 
hand. 

" Immediately followed another, and another, all of similar import, and each in the pecu- 
liar handwriting of the parties respectively while living. There were seven or eiglit in all, 
and, among them, those of Senators Ashley, and Sevier, and the Hon. T. W. Trapnall, all 
of Arkansas, all of whom I had known intimately, and had seen buried years before, 
Trapnall having died about two years before. The signatures of each of those gentlemen 
had striking peculiarities, which were preserved in all their perfection. The medium \\T0te 
a most cramped and miserable hand while in her normal condition, but executed the signa- 
tures of those dead persons in wonderful perfection. Now, what was I to think ? Here 
was a stranger, a thousand miles from the place where those firiends lived and died, who 
could scracelyhave heard of, much less been acquainted with the parties ; and that stranger 
was now here, as certain a medium of written communication from deceased friends to me, 
as the post-office was while they were alive. There was but one conclusion to draw, 
which was, that the spirits of men and women, after their bodies are dead and buried, can 

and do communicate intelligibly with living, healthy, wide-awake men 

[Signed] "A Truth-Hunter." 

" [The author of the above sends us his real name and address, as a voucher for this state- 
ment. — Editor Telegraph.']" 

To follow understandingly the course of Spiritualism in that part of the 
country, which, antecedent to the great American war, was known as the 
Slave States, it would be almost essential that the observer should have per- 
sonally acquainted himself with the immense sectional differences of char- 
acter and interests which have divided the North and South in the original 
Federal "Union" of States, rendering that "Union" a political association, 
but in every other respect, a mere name without a shadow of foundation. 

It is not our purpose in any way to revive the bitter causes of severance 
that always divided these two great sections of country, nor to pronounce any 
opinion upon their respective claims in the war ; but it is necessary that we 
should briefly advert to some of those causes Avhich operated to render some 
of the Southern people singularly hostile to the introduction of Spiritualism 
amongst them. 

It is patent to every American Spiritualist that the great majority of the 
believers, save and except the residents of the Gulf States, were more or less 
in favor of anti-slavery. 

If they did not openly espouse that cause, it was in the belief that the in- 
evitable tendency of Spiritualism was to promote the freedom of all mankind 
in better and more effective methods than those insisted on by the New Eng- 
land abolition party. 

At the same time many devoted Spiritualists were to be found amongst the 
ranks of anti-slavery, and actively operating for its success. Besides these, 
an immense majority openly proclaimed "liberty for all mankind," whilst only 
a scattered few attached themselves to the- pro-slavery party. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 407 

Independent of the known and widi-spread proclivity of the Spiritualists 
for anti-slaver)'-, the South had reason to regard the highly liberalizing ten 
dencies of Spiritualism as fatal to the perpetuation of their "peculiar institu- 
tion." 

The edicts which forbade the education of the negro under penalties little 
short of death, were wholly disregarded by the unconserv-ative inhabitants of 
the spirit country, who frequently selected their mediums from amongst the 
ranks of the servile and uneducated blacks, causing them, under the afiiatus 
of their divine power, to read, write, and speak with all the facile eloquence 
of high educational training, and not unfrequently ^^'ith new tongues. 

The reports from the ranks of colored mediums were most alarming, and 
of course utterly disruptive of that ignorance and mental weakness which was 
the stronghold of the master, and formed chains far more binding than mills 
tary legions or iron yokes. Altogether, the teachings of Spiritualism, this 
democracy of its tendencies on earth, and the republicanism of its societie 
after death, were wholly inconsistent with the autocracy of the slave-holding 
power. 

It is too late now to enlarge upon this subject further; it is too soon after 
the bleeding hearts of a conquered nation have been lacerated by defeat, to 
tear open their wounds by a recapitulation of tlie springs of action which 
influenced them. 

It is enough to notice that whilst the genius of Spiritualism seemed to be 
essentially opposed to the perpetuation of human slavery in any form, the 
tmiz'ersality of the opposition manifested toward the belief in the South was 
much exaggerated in the North, and was far more due to the rancorous and 
envenomed antagonism of an interested Southern priesthood, than to a lack 
of spirituality in the people themselves. 

Making all due allowance for the dangerous possibilities which might grow 
out of Spiritualistic teachings, the Southern people, naturally warm-hearted, 
generous, and impulsive, highly impressible, and intellectually capable of ap- 
preciating the beauty and refining tendencies of Spiritualism, loved and 
cherished it in some families with an ardor which was greatly misunderstood 
at the North, and which, amongst other characteristic en-ors, tended to \\nden 
the breach already inteiqiosed between these unfortunately divided brethren. 
Bearing these preliminary remarks in mind, the bitter opposition on the one 
hand, and the ardent and enthusiastic appreciation on the other, which Spirit- 
ualism experienced in tlie South, may now be better understood. 

Our first glance at Southern Spiritualism must be taken from Tennes- 
see, where a goodly number of noble and high-souled Spiritualists clustered 
together in considerable strength. 

One of the most prominent and respected of the ranks was the Rev. J. B. 
Ferguson, a gentleman who has filled many positions of religious and politi- 
cal distinction with the highest credit to himself and benefit to his country. 

Besides being one of the most liberal, eloquent, and popular preachers in 
Tennessee, Dr. Ferguson is a Master of Arts of Bacon College, Kentucky, and 
Doctor of Laws of Franklin College, Tennessee. His kindly disposition, intel- 
lectual attainments, and distinguished public services, justly entitled hmi to ex- 
ercise great influence in his State-; hence it was no small advantage to the 
cause of Spiritualism in the South to include this noble adherent in its ranks. 

In 184S, Dr. Ferguson became the editor of the Nashville Clwistian 
Magazine ; but no literary position, however high, could fetter his great soul 
in the search after truth, which he rightly estimated as the word of God, un- 
der whatever aspect it was found, hence, after a thorough examination into tlie 



4o8 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

mysterious power of magnetism and clairvoyance, he became an ardent stu- 
dent of occult philosophy, and as such, no sooner heard of the so-called spir- 
itual manifestations than he deemed it imperative upon him, alike as a Christian 
minister, editor, and teacher of the young, to investigate the truth or falsehood 
of what was alleged in relation to it. 

Dr. Ferguson's experiences have resulted in such a wide-spread influence 
upon the cause, that we deem it an essential part of our narrative to notice 
the circumstances attending his conversion. This we do in a few extracts from 
Dr. NichoU's admirable transcript of the life of Jesse B, Ferguson, entitled 
" Supra-mundane Facts." 

In this work Dr. Ferguson says : 

" When the sph-itual manifestations at Rochester and other places were claiming popular 
attention, I -was so occupied in pastoral, editorial, and other duties, that I passed them by 
for the most part, and was disposed to regard them as the minglings of fanaticism and im- 
posture. There was one exception to this statement. When attempting, in company with 
a medical friend, to relieve a case of physical suffering, finding the subject in the state usually 
called clairvoyant, I asked her in relation to the Rochester manifestations, and received this 
response : 

" 'The manifestations are from spirits, many of whom lived before the present nations of 
the earth existed; they are seeking access to the world by the agency of spirits recently de- 
parted. This is true, and you will find it so.' 

" This remarkable declaration did not pass from my memory, and I made a note of it 
among my records ; but I was disposed to attribute it to a mesmeric reflection ofthemmdof 
my friend upon that of the patient. He always protested, however, that I was mistaken. 
This was in May, 1849. 

" My subsequent experience and observation are detailed in the folio-wing letters and com- 
munications, which I now offer to the public as an imperative duty I owe alike to truth and 
right, and to the responsibilities that grow out of privileges I regard as the highest and 
holiest ever granted to man. 

" Springfield, Ohio, October 2.^, 1853." 

"Mr. W. D. M. : My dear Fj-lend, — In accordance with my promise, I proceed to 
present you, in as concise a form as possible, my observations on ' spiritual manifestations.' 

" The chief object of my present visit to Ohio was to secure the privilege of personal ob- 
servation of these strange phenomena. In the prosecution of this design I introduced the 
subject in the house of a worthy friend, who informed me that himself and his brother were 
medmms. They had not been exercised for eighteen months ; had just come in from the 
corn harvest to pay their respects to me, and, though anxious to gratify me, evidently 
wished I had sought some other gratification. By persuasion, hov/ever, they consented to 
try, and we sat down seriously to the table. We had not been seated long until we had 
the raps, the tipping of the stand, and decided changes in their nervous systems. We re- 
ceived, also, responses by the aid of the alphabet, and the name of an aged and deceased 
preacher companion of mine was spelled out. The manifesting power gave answers to 
audible and mental questions, somewhat remarkable in their character, but by no means 
satisfactory as to the degree of intelligence in the replies. The afternoon, however, was 
wearing away, and my friends were expecting me at the house of a relative. I persuaded 
the best medium to accompany me there. We opened the examination again at night, 
with like results. Spirits that had departed in the room v/e occupied were said to be pres- 
ent, and among many strange things revealed to us was, that I myself would receive unmis- 
takable manifestations shortly, and that during the ensuing twenty-four hours. Most of -those 
who witnessed the proceedings concluded that all we had seen and heard were involuntary 
effects produGgd by the medium. We retired to rest, dismissing the subject. Late in the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 409 

night I awoke from a most delightful dream, when I recognized distinct raps. Of conrse I 
was all attention. Satisfying myself that I was entirely awake, I directed, mentally, severai 
questions to the rapping-power, and received remarkable answers 

" On Sunday a gentleman called and assured me we could have a meeting with a medium 
at night. The meeting was arranged to take place in my room ; and after tea quite a 
number gathered, and three mediums were present. With the exception of one individual, 
a Methodist clergyman, formerly from Tennessee, I was a total stranger to all present. 
They neither knew me nor of me. Some of them had come in, they scarcely knew why, 
and one of the mediums was a total stranger to us all, coming, as he said, under the im- 
pression that he 'must come to this place to-night.' The coincidences of desire and unex- 
pected meeting were so remarkable that, but for my Icnowledge of all that had been done 
towards the meeting, I would have feared collusion. On this point, however, I was fully 
satisfied 

" We were soon seated around a table, and joined in a good old song of Zion, to pro- 
duce, as they said, passivity and harmony of mind. Our clerical medium stated to us, 
what we had previously heard ; that he was a man of embarrassing timidity in the presence 
of strangers, and had been so all his life ; that he enjoyed spiritual communications best 
alone, and that in company, even when he felt the influence most powerfully, he hesitated 
to act. We encouraged him, and did all in our power to make him feel at ease. Soon 
his arm was singularly agitated, and, taking a pencil, he wrote what seemed to be an ad- 
monition to himself, as follows : 

" 'You should do your duty at all times, and under all circumstances. What if you are 
in the presence of strangers ? You are also in the presence of heavenly messengers, who 
are ever ready to help and assist you. We know the state of your mind. Be passive. 
We will think ; you must write. Say to all who look on, God is present by His messen- 
gers, and we wish to show that writing may be done intelligibly by one who is not willing 

to do his duty 

"«R. F. Miller.' 

' At this moment another medium commenced speaking, who had responded to all said 
t3y Mr. S. We will call him Mr. L. He seemed to take up the last remark of Mr. S., 
and proceeded to make an address in the German language, which was translated for the 

benefit of all present 

"After another address from Mr. S., of a useful and impressive character, Mr. L. sang 
us a most beautiful German song, music and poetry purporting to be composed by a Ger- 
man ancestor — deceased more than a hundred years — for the occasion. The ideas were 
certainly good — the music very good. What made it remarkable was, that all his acquaint- 
ances declared that he knew not, in his natural state, one word of German 

" Thus they contmued, alternately speaking in German and English, singing and gesticu- 
lating, till the evening liad gi'own quite late, when what purported to be a German spirit, 
sang a parting song, through the medium, bidding each of us good-night, and assuring u 
we would meet agam. 

" Believe me, my dear sir, 

"Very truly, etc., 

"J. B. Ferguson." 

Shortly after this prehminary meeting with the spirits, Dr. Ferguson en- 
joyed a better opportunity of investigation, through the mediumship of a 
young girl whom many of our readers will recognize as having been one of 
the most extraordinary and reliable mediums of the day, although we are 
deterred from giving her name in full, on account of personal reasons pecu- 
liar to herself and her former employers. 



4IO HISTORY OF MODERN 

The following is Dr. Ferguson's letter descriptive of his first meeting with 
this wonderful child : ' 

" Nashville, Tennessee, November lo, 1864. 

" W. D, M. : My Dear Friend, — While I remained in Springfield, Ohio, during a 
period of six weeks, I was regularly engaged in the examination of spiritual phenomena, 
under circumstances every way favorable to a calm and candid investigation. After wit- 
nessing what I have detailed to you in a previous letter, I requested the privilege of in- 
veslgating what were denominated 'physical manifestations.' A meeting was immedi- 
ately called for that purpose ; a large company of ladies and gentlemen of the highest 
respectability were present, and a circle of sceptics and believers surrounded a large dining- 
table, weighing, I suppose, not less than fifty pounds. 

" My attention was directed to a little girl of some fifteen years, perhaps more, very 
small of her age, who was declared to be the medium of these wonderful appeals to the 
outward senses. I learned that she was an orphan, and a day laborer in a factoiy, for her 
own support and that of an aged grandmother. She was well known to two of my broth- 
ers-in-law, who had accompanied me to the meeting, but who had never witnessed a spiritual 
demonstration. They spoke of her kindly; said she had been in their employ, was unculti- 
vated, but worthy of the highest commendation for industry and kindness to an aged relative, 
and that they regretted to see her engaged in a work they regarded as deceptive and dan- 
gerous. She appeared awkward and timid when introduced to the company, and evidently 
manifested a desire to retii'e from the gaze of so many strange eyes. Her confidence was 
soon gained, and she took her seat at the table. We had been seated but a few moments, 
when I discovered a sensible agitation of the table under our hands, which I was ready to 
ascribe to the unconscious pressure of the party, or some person in the circle. Soon, how- 
ever, our little 'Mary' — the only name of the medmm with which we were favored — 
evidently passed through a strange transformation, that gave regularity to her features, 
kindness of expression to her countenance, and exquisite grace to her general demeanor. 
She lifted her hands as if to catch some invisible influence descending from above, and 
placed them upon the heads of several persons present, and, among the rest, that of Mrs. 
F. Her eyes were closed, and I was impressed by her entire manner that she was the most 
adroit of deceivers, or else entirely unconscious of her movements. 

" After completing this pantomimic anointing, she again placed her hands on the table 
and the following effects immediately succeeded : The table was thrown suddenly from her, 
and against the persons opposite ; it was tipped down on each side, aiid again elevated with a 
rapidity almost inconceivable. Our hands were thrown above it by a power we could not 
appreciate, and several of the party present were made to clasp theirs above their heads ; 
among whom was one of the most confirmed sceptics present, who has since become a re- 
markable writing medium. I prescribed several movements of the table, which were made 
as with the velocity of thought, and loud raps were heard under and upon it, to the aston- 
ishment of all present. This character of demonstration was carried on for some twenty or 
thirty minutes, when 'Maiy' said, 'Mr. M. cannot rise from his seat.' We noticed 
the gentleman referred to, and found him firmly seated, his feet and chair riveted to the 
floor. Several persons of great physical strength attempted to remove his chair and failed. 
A number of experiments of this kind were repeated, and carefully tested by all the 
scrutinizing powers our party could command. The company seemed confounded. At 
length, a Mr. F., a connection of mine, who was present, and an open denouncer of Spirit- 
ualism, spoke and said: ' If Mary can have that table moved without our hands upon it, I 
will believe.' Of course, I did not expect that this could be done. Immediately, with a 
gi-aceful gesture, she motioned every person from the table to a distance of not less than 
four feet. She seemed to examine, with eyes still closed, that neither human foot nor dress 
were near it. She sat down in her chair at the table, her chair carried, as it were, by invis- 
ible hands. She then remarked that her chair was fastened, and could not be moved. A 
gentleman attempted to move it and confirmed her statement. She ordered all to be seated 
and quiet, with an air of authority that would have provoked a smile on a less serious occa- 
sion, had it not been for the true dignity of her manner. Then, pointing to the table, she 
commanded it to ' come,' and it moved, more rapidly than any two men could have moved 
it over a rougli carpet, no human hand, nor any dynamic power, that could be recognized Toy 
the external senses, being near it. She commanded it back again, and it obeyed her order, 
when the alphabet was called, and a name, which was said to be that of her deceased 
mother, was distinctly rapped, each rap answering to the letters as she called them ; then 
my sceptical relation spoke out and said : ' It is enough ; I am convinced.' I need not de- 
scribe the effect upon our company, as his honest conviction was theirs, and many who 
were then present are now avowed believers." 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 411 

From this time forth, Dr. Ferguson's investigations were constant and un- 
tiring. Convinced at last of the reaUty of communion between the spiritual 
and natural worlds, and the perpetual witness of phenomena that ought to 
have enlisted the interest and sympathy of every truly religious and scientific 
mind in the country, the amiable preacher both wrote and spoke his convic- 
tions with a freedom that ill suited the temper of this material age ; which soon 
enrolled his hitherto honored name on the list of the proscribed, and often 
threatened to write it in letters of fire amongst the " the noble army of 
martyrs." 

Amongst the descriptions of mediumistic persons with which his " Supra- 
mundane Facts" abound, the following will illustrate the character of the 
Spiritualism in Tennessee, over and above the visits of celebrated itinerant 
mediums who were always welcomed in Memphis and Nashville. Dr. Fer- 
guson writes : 

"y?%/2i, 1856. 

" Last night, amid the usual addresses and privileges of our regular meetings, our large 
piano was moved without mortal hands ; its strings were repeatedly touched while the lid 
was down, and nomortalhand near the keys; our little altar — a small table — was carried 
over the room, no one present touching it ; loud raps, confirmatory of important spiritual 
impressions, were made upon the table, several articles of furniture, glass, and the walls of 
the rooms, so hard as to be heard in the rooms above us ; and all m the presence of eight 
persons, no one of whom had anticipated or thought of, though each was delighted with, 
such evidences. An orphan girl, who was evidently the medium for these manifestations, 
had come in by spiritual impression, and amid some of these wonderful demonstrations, was 
carried to the piano, upon which she performed, improvising three very beautiful songs, 
althougli without an ordinary education, or the advantage of a single lesson in music. Her 
name is Miss Nannie West, a destitute orphan, whose father received his death by violence, 
and who has since been cared for by the kindly and truly christian charity of Mrs. Lee 
Coleman, of this city, at whose house, whenever she is present in the circle, the same or 
similar manifestations have been made repeatedly during a period of months, and in the 
presence of hundreds. 

" I seek only to give a plain statement of facts on these manifestations, and therefore for- 
bear to offer a commentary. They are true." 

i 

In another place he describes one of the most celebrated of the Tennessee 
mediums, Mr. Champion, a writing, speaking, and seeing medium. This 
young man was developed, quite unexpectedly to himself, at the house of Dr. 
Ferguson, and since the period of his interior unfoldment, his experience as a 
seer, test medium, trance speaker, prophet, and clairvoyant, would fill vol- 
umes. He then speaks of a Mr. W. W. Finn, an excellent medium, and a 
most faithful and zealous laborer in the cause. No one, however, more gen- 
erally contributed to the success and spread of Spirituahsm than the wife of 
Dr. Ferguson, a lady whose remarkable gifts of healing alone would appear^ 
if fairly represented, equal to the miracles of the Jewish or Christian dispen. 
sation. 

In speaking of his companion, Dr. Ferguson modestly says : 

" Mrs. Ferguson is a medium for visions as well as writing. She always sees the spirit 
while communicating, whether through herself or others. Frequently, whUe engaged in her 
household duties, she receives a request from some spirit friend to give forth a communica- 
tion. In such cases she sometimes refuses, and again, after her duties are over, will sit down 
and in a few moments, pour forth the wishes of l:^^r invisible visitants. She often recognizes 
them while engaged in ordinary conversation with her friends, while visitmg among her 
neighbors, at church, and in the street, but, refers to such greetings only in the sacred 
privacy of confiding friendship, and then with evident wonder that all do not realize their 
presence. She sees them come and go ; marks then* pleasmre and disappointment ; and, 



412 HISTORY OF MODERN 

were it not for the materialistic scepticism she meets, would, perhaps, never meet an earthly 
friend withovit calling attention to a presence near them they may still cherish in their mem- 
ory, or may have forgotten. We would delight to give you many of her visions, but have 
failed to secure her consent. Nothing but the highest sense of religious duty, and that after 
repeated admonitions from her spirit monitors, could induce her to allow even this brief no- 
tice, and the use we make of the communications that follow : 

" 'Miss Agnes Morrison was developed under your own observation. She has felt the 
retarding influence of lidicule from those who know nothing of the difficulties attendinf^ a 
development so extraordinary, and those who indulged it, now wonder why she has not ad- 
vanced more rapidly. She is what we would call a pictorial medium, and presents, at times, 
the highest psychical and spiritual truths under symbols most beautiful and impressive. She 
has never failed to convince all who have taken the time and pains necessary to an honest 
investigation. 

" ' My daughter Virginia both writes and speaks under spirit impressions. Her manner, 
voice, and language are graceful and appropriate in the extreme. We had no thought of 
her as a medium till we were advised of her peculiar organization and capacity, from the 
spirit-world. She seems not, as yet, aware of her strange privileges when in the normal state, 
and is more interested in what she has been writing or speaking than even the astonished 
isteners who witness her happy and impressive transformations." 

One of the most extraordinary evidences of supramundane power afforded 
by this highly gifted family to the world, came through Dr. Ferguson's little 
girl, whose wonderful phenomenal endowments have been so thoroughly at- 
tested by numerous still living witnesses, that we feel justified in transcribing 
her father's account of her development in his own candid and truthful words. 
He writes : 

."In the summer of 1854, my daughter was on a visit to our friends at Merryville, Ken- 
tucky, the country seat of Dr. Charles Merryweather. She had been there two weeks 
prior to a proposed visit by her mother and myself. She was a favorite of the family, but 
was not then recognized, either by them or us, as a medium for any form of what they called 
spiritual manifestations. When we arrived we were surprised to learn from the venerable 
matron of the mansion, and from Mr. W. D. Merryweather, that our daughter had exhib- 
ited a fact more astounding than any we had recorded or witnessed. Her mother heard it 
with evident pain, for it was the desire of her heart that no one of her children should be 
called upon to bear the reproaches attached to mediumship before an ignorant and preju- 
diced people. I heard it with grave suspicion that my friends v/ere trying to deceive me. 
I had told them such strange experiences that I feared they were disposed to set off my truth- 
ful representations with an effort to see how much I could believe. Indeed, I v/as offended 
at their story, and felt that I vi'as not treated as I deserved. So seriously did I feel this 
that I determined not to remain, even with tried friends, where there was a trifling with gi-eat 
truths, and especially as I had gone to them for a respite from the foolish and distracting jar- 
gon of the city upon this great subject. 

"They saw and felt my condition of mind, and assured me they were never more sincere. 
Their manner confounded, but did not convince me. It served, however, to relieve me from 
all idea of trespass upon my serious method of treating the subject, and I remained. 

" These persons averred that my little daughter, standing in the centre of the drawing- 
room, in the presence of eight or ten members of the family, came under a deep and strange 
spell, which imparted a beaming expression to her countenance, and gave a womanly self- 
possession to her manner ; that then she ordered a clean teacup and silver spoon. When 
brought, she subjected each to the scrutiny of every individual present, and required each to 
examine and pronounce them clean. Then, selecting Miss King to stand by her side, she 
resumed her place in the' centre of the room, and, in gleeful spirits,' commenced stirring the 
spoon in the vacant cup. All of this seemed meaningless enough, and she jomed the wit- 
nesses in their playful remarks respecting it, all the time, however, exhibiting a manner 
clearly not her own. Suddenly she claimed to be acting under the direction of an invisible 
chemist — once the head of this family, and deceased some ten years — and an Indian chieftain, 
and requiring that all should remain unmoved in their places, said that a power of spirit 
over form should be presented, such as no one present had ever witnessed. 

" She continued the stirring of the spoon in the cup, and again subjected it to the obser- 
vation of each one present. Then, returning to the centre of the room, in what they sup- 
posed was about five minutes, she presented the cup with over a teaspoonful of an omtment, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 413 

dark in color, and distinctly odorous all over the room, -with ■which she anointed the face of 
the gentleman of the house ; he was suffering from neuralgia and received immediate relief. 

"She then demanded to see every patient on the plantation, young and old, in a negro 
family of over one hundred souls, for each of -whom she precribed as if with a full knowledge 
of the art of medicme. Among the number was a lad of fourteen, who, in some encounter, 
had dislocated his arm at the shoulder joint. They were on the eve of sending for the 
family surgeon, a distance of six miles, when she replaced the dislocated arm, bound it and 
fastened it securely to the body, with professional skill, and was then relieved from the spell 
or trance in which she had acted, with every evidence that she scarce knew anything that 
had occurred since she first came into the drawing-room. 

"Again I must record that her mother seemed deeply pained in hearing the circumstan- 
tial narrative of these facts, and said to me : ' I would rather bury our dear bright child than 
see her a medium. ' I felt all the mother said ; but as, in all true experiences in life, I had 
learned to know that a power supreme directs our destiny, I accepted the strange experience. 
The child seemed to feel this, and nestled to me, when again she became entranced, and 
produced before me and four other persons the same result. In this case she prescribed 
for a man wlio happened to come in at the time, and was much emaciated from loss of 
blood, caused by a terrible wound inflicted upon him by an enraged negro some months be- 
fore. She directed that he should seek and make free use of chalybeate water, and as there 
was none near, she ordered a glass of rain-water to be brought, which she stirred for some 
minutes with a spoon, pronounced it chalybeate, and gave him to drink. He also pro- 
nounced it such. He is a physician in that neigliborhood, and has often avowed that what 
he drank was as distinctly chalybeate as that which he afterv.-ards sought, and by which he 
was benefited. 

"These facts, with all our efforts to conceal them, became generally known, and were 
treated with ridicule or respect, according to the character of the journals that gave them 
circulation. They were, of course, inaccurately stated, and I was appealed to by scientific 
men in many parts of the Union for a true statement. This I made, and it was published 
in the New York Spiritual Telegraph, over my own signature, and with the attestation of 
all who witnessed the manifestations. It is due to truth to say that this manifestation was 
never given upon demand, and in each case it was evidently the result of a care and direc- 
tion, superior in every respect to that of either parents or friends. 

" One day, some months afterwards, when this daughter was at school at Nashville, she 
was found by her teacher weeping inconsolably, and was sent home, refusing to give to any 
one but myself a reason for her gidef I was sent for, when she said, with deep sobs, ' It is 
gone ! ' ' What, my child ? ' said I. ' The power ! ' she replied. I soon understood her 
trouble, and reassured her, more, perhaps, by my manner than by anything I said, for I never 
felt more at a loss than m the strange and now sad experience of a most lovely and dutiful 
child. A week passed, and all noticed that she seemed as one who had lost a parent or a 
friend. My residence was near the academy. One day, returning from the city on foot, my 
little girl came running, all alive with joy, and on taking her in my arms, she exclaimed, 'I 
have got it again, pa ! ' What? ' was my question. ' I can't make the medicme, but I can 
write,' said she. 'To-day I was called on in my class for a composition. I could not 
write one. I thought I would ask you to do it for me, when the teacher required that each 
one of the class should retire and bring a composition to her. I went away, and while 
grieving that I could think of nothing to write, my hand felt just as it did when I made the 
medicine, and I wrote a composition, which Miss S. says is beautiful, and she asked me if I 
had not committed it to memory from some book.' This power of writing continued, and 
its blessing to us aU need not be further described." 

Besides these interesting personages, Dr. Ferguson makes high and eulo- 
gistic mention of a lady well known in Memphis, Tennessee, Mrs. Winchester 
by name, a person of the highest social position, wealth, and standing, and, 
amongst other remarkable endowments, gifted with the power to give masonic 
signs, and go through all the degrees of masonry, in the presence of the most 
accomplished of the order, whose testimony to her "supernatural knowledge 
of their craft " has often been rendered with generous candor. 

We have frequently had occasion to show how intimately the progress of 
the movement has been blended with the personal experiences of its human 
agents, and it is this feature of Spiritualism which must plead our apology for 
dv/elling so long on the influence of Dr. Ferguson and his family, and for pro- 



414 HISTORY OF MODERN 

ceeding to relate some experiences of the author's which became of con- 
siderable importance in the advancement of the cause in Memphis, Ten- 
nessee. 

When first invited to lecture at Memphis in 1859, Mrs. Hardinge was 
greeted with a cordial welcome from a large and enthusiastic body of friends, 
■ together with a vast concourse of listeners, who attended her sabbath lectures, 
at which, however, frequent and unmistakable signs of hostility were mani- 
fested. 

This spirit of antagonism soon took the shape of a religious persecution, 
carried on cheifly by the editor of the Memphis Inquh'C}', a professed 
organ of the Presbyterian party in the city. 

Besides the most bitter tone of insult towards Spiritualism, it pleased the 
editor of this Christian journal to confess that the favorite Southern institu- 
tion was just at that time resting on the edge of a " slumbering volcano," 
whose irruptive fires, he seemed to think, it was the peculiar province of J\-Irs. 
Hardinge to kindle into consuming fury. 

The repeated and merciless insults with which all the author's public 
addresses were lashed, excited in her friends the deepest indignation, and 
frequently provoked the lady to retort, or at lea ;t to deny the atrocious alle- 
gations with whicli she was assailed. For some Aveeks, however, this just 
and reasonable course of defence was hindered by the emphatic remon- 
strances of her spirit friends, who constantly urged her to "wait a little 
longer," assuring her that her time had not yet come, but would, if she only 
consented to follow their advice, and wait for the opening of the gates by 
their hands, rather than vainly attempt to right herself "Wait, Emma, wait," 
they would whisper; "bide your time and ours; we are not unmindful, nor 
yet powerless to do you justice ; only wait until we bid you write." Spirits 
never forget, but they take their own time to work out their purposes. 

A few weeks before the close of Mrs. Hardinge' s engagement in Memphis, 
she had agreed, according to her custom, to lecture for the benefit of the 
Leath Orphanage, an institution which was greatly in want of funds, and 
for which the guardians had solicited her willing aid. 

On the day fixed for the lecture, the proprietor of the hall was compelled 
to close the doors at the commands of a set of " roughs," wlio, led on by 
several well-known clerical gentlemen, savagely threatened to lynch all par- 
ties concerned, if they dared to proceed with the lecture. 

The next day being Sunday, Mrs. Hardinge, when preparing for her morn- 
ing lecture, was advised by her spirit friends that she was threatened with 
some danger during the exercises, but that, if she had faith in their power 
and protection, nothing earthly could harm her. 

Communicating this warning to her friends, and entreating her kind hostess 
to abstain from accompanying her, the lecturer, attended by her host and 
some members of his family, who were resolved to share any danger incident 
to their speaker, proceeded to enter upon her Sabbath morning's duties. 

When the lecturer had spoken about half an hour, a large stone was 
thrown through the window exactly opposite to where she stood, shivering 
several panes of glass, and falling with such force and correct aim that, had 
it hit a few feet above, and struck her forehead, instead of falling exactly at 
her feet, the career of the author must, then and there, have closed on this 
mortal sphere of existence. 

Many of the audience rose in consternation, but so perfect was the spirit- 
ual control of the speaker, that her voice never faltered, her attitude was not 
changed, nor was a syllable in the sentence she was uttering broken or sus 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 415 

pencled. Seemingly wholly unconscious of the intemiption, she proceeded 
with such unwavering steadiness that quiet and order, were instantly restored 
and no one in that audience dreamed that she had even been conscious of 
her imminent peril, until the close of the address, when, stooping to pick up 
the stone vdiich still lay in ugly proximity to her feet, she remarked that "in 
the progress of all true reforms, the projection of vituperation, insults, false- 
hoods, and stones, might be regarded as striking argimrents, but they were 
rarely convincing." 

The next morning the Memphis Inquirer seemed to have exliausted itself 
in terms of abuse wherev>'ith to belabor the obnoxious lecturer for the high 
crime and misdemeanour of attempting to lend the aid of her infidelic talents 
to build up the " I.eath Orphan Asylum." 

He denounced the projector of the missile in terms which left no doubt 
that his error was not the act itself, but a false aim and lack of success, and 
concluded his string of invectives by an tmfortunate string of falsehoods, 
wherein he accused Mrs. Hardinge of being a " New England Abolitionist," 
instead of an Old England Spiritualist; of forcing her services upon the guar- 
dians of the "Leath Orphan Asylum," instead of simply responding in the 
affirmative to an earnest invitation from that body to lecture for them ; of 
seeking to propagate her "infamous opinions" through a charitable plea, in- 
stead of admitting that the lecturer had insisted that the audience should 
choose any subject they pleased for her discourse, after she had taken her seat 
on the platform, and of being one of the atrocious "free love party," instead 
of having been for years an indefatigable laborer to redeem the unhappy out- 
cast woman from the wrongs which free love had put upon her, a work with 
which Mrs. Hardinge' s name had been even more widely associated than 
with Spiritualism. 

Finally, the writer concluded this awkward tissue of "slight mistakes" by 
insisting that "if the people of Memphis could not sustain their orphan 
asylums without importing infidel lecturers from the North, their true course 
was to "let them slide," alleging, in substance, that the bodies of hungry 
orphans were of no account, whilst the souls of rabid sectarians were in 
danger. 

This remarkable exposition of the Scripture parable of the Good Samari- 
tan no sooner appeared on the Monday morning in the columns of the Presby- 
terian organ, over the assumed signature of "An old Subscriber," than the 
spirit guides of the slandered lecturer enunciated, in their usual emphatic 
whisper, " Emaia, the tijme has come ; take your pen and write." 

It were needless to reiterate the arguments Avhich fell from the pen of the 
spiritually guided medium. 

It is enough to say that, after a formal and emphatic denial of the country, 
character, office, and acts, which had been falsely attributed to her, the lec- 
turer proceeded to enter into a full and elaborate description of what her 
doctTines, belief, and practices, really were, and to institute a not unnatural 
comparison between her statements, the action of the religious papers, and 
the religious " old subscriber," in general, and the life and teachings of the 
master they professed to follow, in particular. 

When Mrs. Hardinge intimated to her host her wish that he should carry 
her letter to the office of the Alemphis Inquirer for immediate publication, 
her friend asked her if she was insane, or deemed him so ; but on her confi- 
dent assurance that the letter Avould be accepted, and that the editor was al- 
ready under the influence of an invisible presence, which would compel liina 
to print it, JNIr. C. agreed "to try it on." 



4l6 HISTORY OF MODERN 

The trial was successful ; the letter was published, read, and sold, until, 
before noon on the day of publication, extra editions were in wide demand, 
to satisfy the suddenly awakened interest which the subject had at last begun 
to excite. 

Truly the long delayed writing came in due season, as it not only redeemed 
the character of the writer, but went from house to house as a missionary for 
that noble cause, which, until then, could scarcely obtain any other hearing 
in Memphis than through the medium of newspaper ribaldry. The editor of 
the paper himself, shrinking from the mortification of the transaction behind 
the excuse of "correspondence," acknowledged that " the old subscriber" 
had "got Avhipped," and declined to prosecute further attacks on so "dan- 
gerous" an antagonist. 

This admission was generally interpreted by the community into the edi- 
torial purpose to " let it slide," which significant sentence became for a long 
time a popular by-word "on street and 'Change," whilst an attempt to over- 
reach in business was met by the expression, " You can't come the ' old sub- 
scriber ' over me." 

It need hardly be said that the popularity of these phrases, insignificant 
and even vulgar as they were, denoted the public sentiment, and proved 
how deep a hold the transaction in which they originated had taken on the 
mind of that capricious world, that is so easily moved in favor of the strong 
and successful. 

By obedience to the spiritual mandate in waiting for the full ripening of 
time and opportunity, the cause which the author had in charge to propogate 
became " strong and successful," and long continued to remain so in Mem- 
phis, Tennessee. 



CHAPTER XL. 

SPIRITUALISM IN THE SOUTH. 

" The burden of a prophet's power 
Fell on me in that fearful hour : 
From off unutterable woes 
The curtain of the future rose. 
I saw, far down the coming time. 
The fiery chastisement of crime, 
With noise of mingling hosts, and jar 
Of falling towers and shouts of war." 

Whittier. 

The Alabama Legislature and the Spirits — Prophecy in the Alabama 
Legislative Halls — Retribution — The Crescent City — Monsieur Bar- 
thet's Testimony — The Little Clairvoyant and the Spirits — Mr. James 
WiNGARD, the Medium — Author's Correspondence. 

Sometime about the month of January, i860, the Legislature of Alabama 
passed a bill declaring that any person or persons giving public spiritual mani- 
festations in Alabama should be subject to a penalty of five hundred dollars. 

We have given the substance, though not the exact Avording of this edict, 
which was met by considerable opposition, not only on the part of great num- 
bers of Spiritualists resident in the State, but also by the Governor himself, 
who refused to give his sanction to the bill. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 417 

Mr. George Redman, the celebrated physical test medium, had just passed 
through the South, and remained long enough to create an immense interest 
tliroughout its length and breadth. 

The author was already engaged to deliver a course of lectures in Mobile, 
and numerous invitations were sent to her from other parts of the State. 

As Mrs. Hardinge's visit was anticipated at the very time when the bill 
above named was in agitation, its friends in the Legislature considered them- 
selves much aggrieved by the Governor's refusal to sanction its passage, and 
deeming either that he was suspiciously favorable to the cause it was designed 
to destroy, or that their own case would be aggravated by the advent of the 
expected lecturer, they passed their bill over the Governor's veto, just twenty- 
four hours before the explosion anticipated in her ariival could take place. 

On landing in Mobile, Mrs. Hardinge was greeted by a large and enthusi- 
astic body of friends, but found herself precluded, by legislative wisdom, from 
expounding the sublime truths of immortality in a city whose walls were plac- 
arded all over with bills announcing the arrival of Madame Leon, the cele- 
brated " seeress and business clairvoyant, who would show the picture of your 
future husband, tell the successful numbers in lotteries, and enable any des- 
pairing lover to secure the affections of his heart's idol," etc. Side by side 
^vith these creditable but legalized exhibitions, were flaming announcements 
of "the humbug of Spiritualism exposed by Herr Marvel," with a long list of 
all the astonishing feats which "this onl}^ genuine living wizard" would dis- 
play for the benefit of the pious State Avhere angelic ministry might not be 
spoken of 

Mrs. Llardinge passed through Mobile, leaving many warm hearts behind 
her, who would fain have exchanged these profane caricatures for the glad 
tidings which beloved spirit friends were ready to dispense to the world. 

In passing through the capital city, Montgomery, a detention occurred, of 
some hours, in forming a railway connection en r<?///e for Macon, Georgia, when 
Mrs. Hardinge and some friends travelling" in her company, were induced to 
while away the tedious time by \'isiting the State House. The legislature was 
not sitting that day, and one of the party, a Spiritualist, remarked that they 
were even then standing in the very chamber from which the recent obnoxious 
enactment against their faith had issued. 

The day was warm, soft, and clear. The sweet southern breeze stirred a 
few solitary pines Avhich v.^aved on the capitol hill, and the scene from the 
windows of the legislative hall was pleasant, tranquil, and suggestive of calm, 
but sluggish peace. 

At that period — January, i860 — not an ominous murmur, not the faintest 
whisper, even, that the war spirit was abroad, and the legions of death and 
ruin were lighting their brands and sharpening their relentless swords to be 
drenched in the life-blood of milhons, had made itself heard in the land. 

The long-cherished purpose of hate and fratricidal struggle were all shroud- 
ed in the depths of profound secrecy, and the whole Southern country might 
have been represented in the scene of stillness and tranquillity that lay out- 
stretched before the eyes of the watchers, who stood in the State House of the 
capital city of Alabama, on that pleasant January afternoon. 

There were present six persons besides the author, namely : Mr. and Mrs. 
Adams, of Tioga County, Pennsylvania ; Mrs. Waters and her son ; a Scotch 
lady and gentleman, from Aberdeen; Mr. Halford, of New York City; and 
Mr. Janres, of Philadelphia. All but the mother and son from Scotland were 
acquainted with the author, and more or less sympathetic with her belief; all 
are now living and willing to testify to what follows. 
27 



4l8 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Suddenly Mrs Hardinge became entranced, when the whole scene, la}nng 
outstretched before her eyes, appeared to become filled with long hnes of 
glittering horse and foot soldiers, who, in martial pomp and militar) discipline, 
filed, rank after rank and regiment after regiment, through the streets of 
Montgomery, and then passed off into distance, and were lost to view. 

Meantime the crash of military music seemed to thrill through the clair- 
voyant's ears, at first merely marking the tramp of the vast bodies of infantry 
with a joyous rhythm, but anon, as it died off in their receding march, wild, 
agonizing shrieks commingled with its tones, and the thundering roll of the 
drums seemed to be muffled by deep, low, but heart-rending groans, as of 
human sufferers in their last mortal agony. 

At length all was still again, the last gleam of the muskets flashed in the 
sunlight and melted away in the dim horizon ; the last echo of the strangely 
mingled music and agony ceased, and then, over the whole radiant landscape, 
there stole an advancing army of clouds, like a march of tall gray columns, 
reaching from earth to the skies, and filling the air with such a dense and 
hideous gloom, that the whole scene became swallowed up in the thick, senied 
folds of mist. In the midst of these cloudy legions, the eye of the seeress 
could discern innumerable forms who seemed to shiver and bend, as if in the 
whii'l of a hidden tempest, and flitted restlessly hither and thither, aimless, 
and hopeless, apparently driven .by some invisible power from nothing to 
nowhere. 

And these mystic shadows, flitting about in the thick grayness, were un- 
bodied souls ; not like visitants from the bright summer land, nor yet beings 
resembling the dark, undeveloped "dwellers on the threshold," whom earthl)'- 
crimes held bound near their former homes, but they seemed as if they were 
misty emanations of unripe human bodies, scarcely conscious of their state, 
yet living, actual individualities, once resident in mortal tenements, but torn 
from their sheltering envelope too soon, or too suddenly, to have acquired 
the strength and consistency of a fresh existence. And yet the numbers of 
these restless phantoms were legion, and their multitude seemed to be ever 
increasing, when, lo ! this weird phantasmagoria too passed away, but not 
before the seeress had, with entranced lips, described to the listeners every 
feature of the scene she had witnessed. 

Then the influence seemed to deepen upon her, and she pronounced 
words which the young Scotchman, Mr. Waters, a phonogi'aphic writer, tran- 
scribed upon the spot to the following effect : 

" Woe, woe to thee, Alabama ! 

"Fair land of i^est, thy peace shall depart, thy glory be shorn, and the proud bigots, ty- 
rants, and cowards, who have driven God's angels back from thy cities, even in this chamber, 
have sealed thy doom, and their own together. 

" Woe to thee, Alabama ! Ere five drear yearshave fled, thou shalt sit as a widow, desolate, 

"The staff from thy husband's hand shall be broken, the cro\vn plucked from his head, 
the sceptre rent from his gi'asp. 

" Thy sons shall be slain, thy legislators mocked and bound with the chains thou hast 
fastened on others. 

" The blind ones, who have proscribed the spirits of love and comfort from ministry in ' 
thy homes, shall be spirits themselves, and ere those five years be passed, more spirits than 
bodies shall wander in the streets of Alabama, homeless, restless, and unripe ; torn from 
their earthly tenements, and unfit for their heavenly ones, until thy grass-grown streets and 
thy moss-covered dwellings, shall be the haunts of legions of unbodied souls, whom thy 
crimes shall have violently thrust into eternity I" 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 419 

Wlien this involuntary prophecy of evil import was read by the young 
scribe to the disenthralled medium, her own horror and regret at its utterance 
far exceeded that of any of her aghast listeners, not one of whom, any more 
than herself, attached to it any other meaning than an impression produced 
by temporary excitement and the sphere of the uixlioly legislative chamber. 

How deeply significant this fearful prophecy became during the ensuing 
five years, all who were witnesses to its utterance, and many others, to whom 
It was communicated in that same year, can bear %vitness of 

Swept into the red gulf of all-consuming war, many of the unhappy gentle- 
men who had legislated against " the spirits in Alabama," became, during the 
ensuing five years, spirits themselves, and have doubtless realized the ines- 
timable privileges which the communion they so rashly denounced on earth 
was calculated to afford to the inhabitants of the spheres. 

In other respects, the fatal prophecy has been too literally fulfilled. Many 
a regiment of brave men have marched out of the city streets of Alabama, 
only to return as unbodied souls, and to behold the streets grass-grown and 
deserted, and the thresholds which their mortal feet might never again cross, 
overspread with the moss of corruption and decay. 

Alabama has truly " sat as a widow, desolate." Her strength has been 
shorn, her beaut} gone. No State has sent forth a greater number of brave 
and devoted victims to the war than Alabama ; no Southern State has suffered 
more fearfully. May God and kind angels lift the war curse from her 
widowed head ! 

The following extract from a letter, written by Mr. Adams, one of the wit- 
nesses of the above scene, to the author, in 1864, from New York, during 
a temporary sojourn there, will carry its own comment on the fulfilment of 
the fatal prophecy : 

"Now that my two poor boys are in daily danger of tliemselves becoming 'unbodied 
spirits,' Emma, I continually revert to that terrible prophecy of yours, uttered in the assem- 
bly chamber at Montgomery. Heaven knows I was then so little prepared to expect war 
or any reasonable fulfilment of the doom, that I could only look to see some great pesti- 
lence, fire, or other sweeping calamity falling on poor Alabama. Last night, when I read 
in the Herald, of the sweeping extermination that had visited those two fine Alabama regi- 
ments, I could not help going to Mrs. Adams's desk, where she keeps the copy that young 
Waters made us of your prophecy, and reading it aloud to the whole company. 

" Our friend J. B., who was present, insisted upon seeing the date, and when he saw that 
it was January, 1S60, they were all fairly aghast, and said, if ever there was genuine proph- 
ecy it was contained in that paper. " 

The next halting point in our Southern review must be the beautiful 
" Crescent City " of New Orleans, where as large a number of true-hearted 
Spiritualists resided before the late war, as in any place of similar size and 
population in the country. Messrs. Thomas L. Harris and Thomas Gales 
Forster, had awakened an irrepressible interest in the doctrinal part of Spirit- 
ualism in New Orleans. Dr. Ferguson and other eminent speakers had 
always been warmly received there, and several distinguised test mediums 
had given its inhabitants the most conclusive proofs of the telegraphic com- 
munion. Both amongst the French and American portions of the popula- 
tion, a number of fine local mediums have been developed, some of whom 
have given manifestations second to none in phenomenal marvel and power. 
We shall now present our readers with a few selections from the published 
accounts of New Orleans Sphitualism. 



420 HISTORY OF MODERir 

The first extract refers to the experience of a French gentleman, well kno'W'n 
in the spiritual ranks as a man of unimpeachable veracity : 

"MIRACLES IN NEW ORLEANS. —TELEGRAPH PAPERS. 

"The following literal translation of a communication which we have received from a 
French gentleman of New Orleans, will no doubt be perused with deep interest, as adding 
materially to the common stock of marvels and inexplicabilities that are now being de- 
veloped. We have only to add that the communication comes to us well authenticated by 
collateral testimony. We have conversed with a French gentleman of this city who is inti- 
mately acquainted Avith the writer, and who assures us that the latter is a cool and scientific 
observer, and in every respect a reliable man. For the last fourteen years he has been con- 
nected with an association for the investigation of all questions coming under the head of 
animal magnetism, psychology', etc., which numbers among its members several dis- 
tinguished gentlemen, and, with the rest, the Hon. Felix Garcia, President of the Senate of 
Louisiana. These facts render it highly improbable that our correspondent has been deceived 
in his observations, o'r that he would, by any means, knowingly deceive others in relating 
them. — Ed. Telegraph: 

New Orleans, March 8, 1855. 
" Messrs. Partridge and Brittan : 

"Dear Sirs,— Within about six weeks we have successively received, through an en- 
tranced medium, an orphan girl between thirteen and fourteen years of age, a quantity of 
articles, which I will enumerate, in round numbers, as follows : Sixty engravings on paper 
one small crucifix, fifty small siver medals of different sizes, two small medals of gold, and 
ten small books. The engi-avings had almost all been made in Paris ; they represent so 
many diffei-ent religious subjects; they are of different shapes and sizes, but in general they 
measure about three inches wide, and five or six inches high ; their edges are indented to the 
depth of from one-half to three-quarters of an inch ; they are therefore fragile, but they 
nevertheless come to us without exhibiting a single fold, or being in the least degree crum- 
pled. The medals all represent the Virgin Mary, and are such as many Catholics suspend 
from the necks of their children. The books are all works of piety, and are in conformity 
to the Roman faith. Only one of them is in English, this having more than 300 pages, of 
a size a little larger than the others. The others are in French, printed in France, having 
284 pages, measuring two and a half inches one way and three and a half inches the other, 
and being three-quarters of an inch thick. All these books seem not to have been touched 
since they came from the hands of the bookbinder. 

• "There were also sometimes given to the medium, some small pieces of money, which 
disappeared in her hand without one being able to see what became of them. 

"In these diverse operations, the medium sometimes held her hand ofi the table, and 
sometimes under it. She would now and then say, 'Give, then,' or, 'Take, then,' as if 
she were speaking to some one. If any one interrogated her on this subject, she Avould say 
slie saw some children like herself. ,' 

" We have taken that girl into several families where she was a stranger, and there also, 
silver medals and books have been received. It is scarcely necessaiy to say that before 
commencing a sitting, stringent measures were taken to assure ourselves that nothing was 
hidden either in the clothes of the medium or in the table. 

"Last Sunday I conducted her to a house where she had never been. The room was 
perfectly lighted. The table, which was a common one, having four legs, and without a 
drawer, measured two feet wide, and three feet long. The medium and the master of the 
house seated themselves at the sides of the table, and the mistress and the youngest daugh- 
ter sat at the ends. Two other persons and myself remained a step from the table, and in 
such a position that we could see the hands of the medium. 

"Within a few seconds the girl was entranced. Soon her right hand extended and 
grasped, on the back of the hand [as if seemed to us] of the lady of the house, sitting at her 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 42 1 

left, a small silver medal, which she immediately placed in the hand of her young neighbor 
on the right, a girl younger tlian herself. 

" A few moments after, the same right hand of the medium passed under the table ; she 
scratched the under surface with her nails, making a noise, and then, after a few seconds, 
the hand rose upon the table, holding a book such as I have described, and which the medium 
also gave to her young neighbor on the right. A few minutes afterward the medium awoke, 
the sitting having occupied about four miuutes. 

"Some moments afterward it was written by the hand of the gentleman of the house, 
that the two articles had been given by ancther of his daughters, which daughter was then 
fifteen years old, to her younger sister, who was eleven. 

" I afiirm that whUe this took place, this book was not concealed in the clothes of the 
medium, nor was it in the table. I affirm again, that the medium had no accomplice among 
the six persons in the room who observed her — the only ones who were in the room. I 
affirm, again, that according to no known law could this book have come by a power simply 
human. 

" These are positive facts, which a number of serious persons obsei-ved wdth me, and 
which we continue to study. I pass in sUence a multitude of extremely interesting particu- 
lars ; they would make my letter two long. 

" And now, as the Catholic clergy have seemed to me the most hostile to the new faith, I 
will say that the young orpha"n has been instructed, and still acquiesces in, the faith of the 
Church of Rome, and that these occurrences have taken place sometimes in the presence of 
zealous CathoUcs. In general, however, the sittmgs have taken place indiscriminately, m the 
presence of Catholics, Protestants, and those of no religion; but we have perceived no differ- 
ence in the results, unless it be that the books were always given to Catholics. 

" Will the clergy of the Roman Church, who have so much veneration for these kind of 
articles, persist in declaring that we are in commerce with his satanic majesty? 

" Your humble servant, 

"Joseph Barthet." 

Wonderful as were these demonstrations, especially as strict inquiry has 
shown that the child was repeatedly searched previous to the seances, and 
that marvels of physical mediumship, which it was wholly impossible to pro- 
duce by any human agency, accompanied her wherever she went, another 
letter of M. Barthet's, dated a month later than the preceding, reveals a 
shadowy side to the girl's mediumship, which, in many ways, harassed her 
friends and disclosed peculiar physical conditions, which form a curious fea- 
ture in the history of somnambulism. 

The child herself proved conclusively her lucidity of vision by describing 
spirits who had passed away long prior to her birth, and of whom she had 
never heard, but yet, who were immediately recognized through the fidelity of 
her delineations. 

From some of these revelations it appeared that her associates in the mag- 
netic trance were often spirits of vicious tendencies, and that whilst some 
there were who would have actually impelled her to crime, others appeared 
to exert a salutary and restraining influence on their evil propensities. 

Ignorant as the world has been of the real conditions of spirit-life and its 
varied states, her friends would have revolted with grieved incredulity from 
these disclosures, had they not been convinced of their reality by the unmis- 
takable proofs of identity which the child gave in describing the appearance, 
names, and characteristics, of an immense number of spirits wholly unknown 
to her. 

The following quotations from M. Barthef s second letter are introduced to 
represent in fairness the shadowy features of the case, before alluded to : 



422 HISTORY OF MODERN 

*' Edli07-s of the Spiritual Telegraph, etc: 

"The sun had not yet gone down. There were only tliree of us, 

mckiding the young girl. Madam S. magnetized the latter, and asked her, when she 
saw that she was asleep, whether we would receive any books during the sitting that even- 
ing. ' I do not know ; they are not there,' answered the child. 

"Madam S. continued: 'If they still must have money, I will give them some. 
Silence for some moments ensued ; then the sleeper said they demanded some ; and three 
small pieces of money were given her, which she put in her pocket [where there were already 
two ear-rings with which she had been playing in the morning, for she is very childlike, not 
appearing to be more than twelve years old]. 

" A few moments afterward, the girl, still asleep, arose and passed into the adjoining 
room. We followed and watched her. Seated at a distance from us, she spoke in a sup- 
pressed voice, but energetically and with gesticulations. ' No, no ; I will not ; it is wrong.' 
Then she left her seat, and went and took one on the opposite side of the room, where she 
continued the same pantomime and discourse, adding, ' You are a thief ; you are all the 

time stealing.' Madam S. again said to her: 'If it is me they wash to 

rob, I permit them, provided they only rob me, and take from me nothing but money. 

"The sleeper still seemed to resist, but it soon became evident that she yielded. She 
passed into the room of Madam S. which was also hers, and went toward the closet, 
which she opened, and then pulled out a drawer, among the diverse contents of which she 
searched pretty thoroughly without finding the coveted object. She took a porte-monnaie, 
but could not open it. Madame S. then dropped a half-dollar against the hand of the 
seeker, which she immediately seized, but without appearing to notice what was passing be- 
fore and around her ; neither the fall of the money nor our close proximity to her, seemed 
to excite her attention. Finding nothing more to which she took a fancy, or perhaps being 
satisfied [for it afterward appeared that she had also stolen a brooch], she pushed in the 
drawer, closed the closet, went into another room, and laid down her whole length under 
a bed with her nose against the wall. I forgot to say that, during her visit to the closet, 
she spoke in an undertone, and turned her head to one side as if she were listening and 
taking care not to be distm^bed. She even cautioned her invisible instigator not to make 
any noise. We were, however, almost touching her, but it was evident that our presence 
did not annoy her. She remained under the bed eight or ten minutes in continual conver- 
sation with her invisible comrade. She spoke in a tone very natural, and as if she had been 
far from the ears and eyes of all observers. Her most fi^equently repeated and important 
sayings were : * You take too much at a time ; don't take all to-day ; if you take the half- 
dollar, don't take the brooch, or if you take the brooch don't take the half-doUar. It is too 
much; Mr. C — the father of Madam S., dead about twenty years — 'will perceive 
it, and blab it out, and will scold, and he will carry it all back to-night. Don't take all ; 
at another time you can steal it.' She dwelt on this latter word, of which she frequently 
made use during this scene. 

At the word ' brooch ' [epinglette] Madam S. suspected another theft. She ran to 
her closet, and sought in vain a brooch which she loiew she put there. It was an object on 
which she set a high value, as it had been given to her. It was a simple leaf in gold. 

"Madame S. sought in vain that object. The somnambulist must have taken it 
without our knowledge. The latter, still under the bed, continued her monologue in these 
words: ' At another time we will steal. You will tell Alice and E. — 'two spirits related 
to the family of Mr. S. , who lived in the same house with us, and who, during their life- 
time, had a gi^eat love of money — 'to come, and we will steal also at Mr. L.'s. He has 
a box which is kept locked, but he sometimes forgets the key. Let us go and see.' 

"After saying these words the somnambulist came forth from her hiding-place, and went 
into the room of Mr. L., and we followed her. She tried the drawers of a bureau, but 
could not open them. She said : ' You see it is locked, but sometimes he leaves the key ; 
then we will come and steal.' Then retracmg her steps, she came again to the room 
of Madam S., we being all the while at her heels, and seeing a sick lady coming whom 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 423 

we had left is the first chamber, she drew back, sa)-ing, ' See, H.,who comes ! Let us give 
her room to pass.' She stood stOl, turning her back as if she dreaded to be discovered j 
but here also, as elsewhere, our presence did not seem to annoy her. 

" Finally she returned to the room where she first lost consciousness of our presence. 
There, approacliing a table on which was lying a pack of dominoes, with which she some- 
times amused herself, she called her invisible comrade saying, ' Come ; let us play dominoes,' 
and she commenced plapng herself for the two. I thought I would save her half the 
trouble, and I piirposely laid down one of a wi-ong number. ' See, 07ie has put a five for a 
six. Haven't you a six? Veiy well; draw,' and her ovni hand performed the ofiice indi- 
cated. The pieces played by the somnambulist were well joined ; however, when I laid 
down a piece in two instances, she drew back her hand without sa}Tng an}i:hing, as if she 
were annoyed by some obstacle that was in the way. 

"Pretty soon she left the table, saj-ing, 'You are a stupid girl; you don't know how to 
play ; and you cheat.' 

" She went some steps to seat herself, thus approaching our presence, and when we were 
about to withdraw from her she expressed the desire to be awaked. 

"That being done, ever}-thing indicated her complete forgetfulness of what had oc- 
curred. Then, searching in her pockets, she complained that she missed her ear-drops. 
That evidently was all she knew. We observed that she had not the three little pieces of 
money which had been given her at the commencement of the sitting, nor had she the half- 
dollar, nor the brooch. We sent her out upon an errand in order that we might m her 
absence examine all the nooks and comers where she had been. The bed was displaced, the 
carpet taken up, etc. Vain researches ! 

"Night having arrived, we placed ourselves at the table, as was our custom. Mr. S. 
and 3Ir. D. had rejoined us. We were then five in number. In a few seconds the 
child passed into the abnormal state, and certainly without the agency, at least voluntarj% 

of any of us this time Being questioned, the medium responded that the 

little thief had a wry countenance and crooked figure ; and she added that it was a little 
girl connected with the family of Madam S. The latter said she recognized her as one 
of her cousins, dead nearly twenty years, and who, at the time of her decease, was twelve 
years old. She died with con\nilsions, which distorted her face ; she was much given to pil- 
fering, but as she was sickly, they excused all her fantasies. 

" The medium arose and went out of the room, passed through two other chambers, and 
entered the dining-room, in order to seat herself at the common table. The table, ordina. 
rUy round, but formed of two parts, and capable of being extended by slides and by sup- 
plying additional boards in the middle, was now oval. 

" One of its longer sides was about eight inches from the wall, The medium took a seat 
at the end of the table so as to brmg the wall on her right. She placed her hands on the 
table with the palms do^^-nward. There was a light burning upon the end of the table next 
to her, and directly in front of her, and its flame, standing at the height of about fifteen 
inches above the surface of the table, shone directly in her face. The somnambulist seemed 
to talk with another, to whom she said, ' Give it to me quick, before she comes.' As she 
pronounced these words she quickly extended her right hand at a point between the table 
and the wall, about three or four inches below the top of the table, and consequently into 
the shade, and almost immediately the hand again arose with a package, which was neither 
enveloped nor tied together, but consisted of fourteen engravings of diverse kinds, Uke those 
which I described in my pre%-ious letter. They measured on an average, about four inches 
by five or six, and must have cost at least two doUars. I ran to the opposite side of the 
table ; I removed that end a little further from the wall, and looked and passed my hands 
everjTvhere. 

" Evidently the medium's hand had not extended to the joint where the ends separate 
from each other by means of the grooves, and where, besides, I found nothing but dust, 
and the pictures were very clean. Nor were they in the least crumpled, which would cer- 
tainly not have been the case if they had been imtii then concealed in the girl' s clothes. 



424 " HISTORY OF MODERN 

My examination completed, I took my position, standing, directly behind the medium. The 
three other persons, also standing, were by the table at the left of the medium, and near her 
side ; but in the meanwhile the medium awoke. 

"That which is now to be related we can certify fully, and without doubt. 

"All preserving our places, the medium seated and we standing, and having our eyes fixed 
on the girl's hands, which had resumed their place upon the table, with the palms do^vn 
ward, this is what we witnessed in the most unmistakable manner ; for everything was done 
slowly in this last phase of the seance, during which the medium continued perfectly awake : 

"I said to the girl: 'They have just given you those pictures, but they have not re- 
turned the half-dollar which they have stolen, and they must now return it.' Immediately, 
to the great surprise of the medium, and also somewhat to ours, her right hand slowly 
turned palm upward, at the same time that her arm performed an impulsive movement. 
These motions, though complex, were altogether analogous to those which are sometimes 
produced by the will of the magnetizer, expressed or not, upon an impressible person. The 
hand then moved to the right until it came to the edge of the table, and while the fingers 
were not fully extended, but were immoveable, the whole hand showed eveiy appearance of 
rigidity. 

"We then saw the hand descend three or four inches into the shadow caused by the edge 
of the table, and that by a movement of its own which was little dependent upon the exten- 
sion of the arm. 

' ' This immersion of the hand into the shade only continued about four seconds, during 
which the hand did not stop its motion, and rose again with the same slowness, and showed 
us, at the instant of its emergence from the darkness, the half-dollar lying in the palm, wliich 
had been continually kept upward, and, to all appearances, rigid, the fingers continually re- 
maining in fixed positions. An impulsive movement then brought the arm over the 'table, 
and the hand, slowly turning over, dropped the half-dollar at the foot of the chandelier. 
Then the hand became suddenly free, and resumed its place by the side of the left hand, 
which had not stirred. The medium said she had felt ' as though some one had drawn her 
hand aside, and then dropped something heavy into it.' 

"I again spoke and said: 'That is not all ; they have also taken from you fifteen cents, 
and they must bring them back ;' when lo ! the same hand, performing the same movements, 
and with the same slowness, returned again and threw down the tln-ee little coins by the side 
of the first piece ! 

" ' Let them bring back also the brooch,' added I ; and the same hand, with the same do- 
cility, the same precision, and the same slowness, doubtless to show us that we were not de- 
ceived, brought back the same brooch ! 

"I did not think of any more objects to reclaim, and we were entertaining ourselves Avith 
these marvels when our conversation was suddenly interrupted. It would appear that Mr. 
C, with whom the somnambulist, during the scene under the bed, had threatened the little 
invisible thief, was at his post, and compelled a restitution ; for. after a short pause, nearly 
equal to the previous intervals, and as if we had before us a mechanical automaton, the same 
hand made two more excursions, such as the three preceding, with a little interval between 
them, and each time brought back one of the forgotten ear-drops, of which the girl herself 
was certainly not thinking ; for, agreeably surprised when she saw the first one, she ex- 
claimed, ' My ear-rings ! ' and this was said in a tone of surprise which could not have been 
feigned. This ended the seance. 

" Let the reader notice particularly what were our respective positions. I v/as standing 
behind, and looking over the shoulders of the medium. The three other persons were at 
her left, also standing, and we did not lose an instant in observing the agitated hand except 
while it remained immersed in the shadow, and was less distinctly visible, and where the 
objects which were brought back to us could not be seen until the direct rays of the light 
fell upon them. It is very certain that the hand, during its immersion, did not perform any 
movement of its own ; but we did not see the objects come to her hand, nor did we see the 
hands of the spirit. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 425 

" Let it he observed, also, that these objects could not have been concealed in the child's 
sleeve, and if they had been, they could scarcely have been got out, the sleeves being tight 
at the wristbands. Besides, they could not have been slipped down over the forearm, which 
only attauied a slight inclination below the homontal position. Obsei-ve, finally, that the 
hand, in the position to which it descended to the right, between the table and the wall, 
touched notliing soUd, and that there v/as no nook for anything to be hidden in, either in 
the table on the one hand, or in the wall on the other, and that the hand was whoUy in the 
air." 

M. Barthet's letter, which is dated New Orleans, April 5, 1855, extends to 
a far greater length than the above, but tlirows no further light on any of the 
manifestations. 

Many circles were held in New Orleans, both amongst the French and 
American population, at which all the tests and usual phenomena recorded 
in other portions of this history Avere frequently and abundantly repeated. 

Many excellent mediums vrere found amongst the colored population, one 
of whom, a French Creole named Dr. Valmour, attained a high and deserved 
celebrity as a healing medium. 

Bemg possessed of some independent means of his own, and happily enjoy- 
ing the rare boon of freedom, this noble and beneficent Samaritan devoted 
his gift of healing to the world, without money and without price, and his suc- 
cesses were so marked as to procure for him a vvide-spread celebrity and uni- 
versal respect. 

Another noted medium of the " Crescent City." was a Mr. James Wingard, 
sometimes called Captain Wingard, from his having been a Mississippi boatman. 

This person, wholly uneducated, and a plain, simple, straightforward man, 
in the humblest walks of life, wrote nnder spirit influence in Greek, Hebrew, 
Ai'abic, and other classical and oriental languages, in the purest style of dic- 
tion. 

Up to the period of the war, these writings were carefully preserved, and 
occasionally exhibited by Dr. Hyde, a well-known physician of New Orleans, 
with whom they are, it is believed, still deposited. 

An account of Mr. Wingard' s skill as a spirit artist, Avas furnished to the 
editor of the Spiritual Teleg7'aJ>h, who makes mention of it as follows : 

"CURIOUS SPIRIT PERFORMANCES. 

" The Spiritual RIessenger of August 9th contains a long communication from Monsieur 
Joseph Barthet, of New Orleans, in which he details the particulars of some wonderful spirit 
writings and drawings recently executed by the hand of ]Mr. Wingard, of New Orleans. The 
writings, drawings, etc., were performed in the presence of Mr. Barthet and othei's, in almost 
total darliness, on j)aper which had been previously examined and found not to contain any 
marks. 

" They consist of communications in the common Roman character, and in the Enghsb 
language ; of an upper portion of a human skeleton, accm-ately drawn ; various astronomical, 
hieroglyphical, and cabalistic figures ; a diagram for the formation of a spiritual circle, tln-ee 
verses in Greek, five lines of Latin poetry, seven lines of French poetr)', two sentences in 
Spanish, an inscription in Hebrew, — all of v/hich, except the skeleton, are transcribed in the 
Messenger. The comm.unics tions, inscriptions, etc., covered ten pages of foolscap, and 
were executed in the space of about one hour. In his ordinary state, Mr. Wingard would 
have been utterly incapable of this performance even in the light ; and no man, in the exer- 
cise of the merely ordinary powers of sense, perception, and volition, could have accom- 
plished this feat without confusion in his markmgs, in that degree of darloiess which rendered 
even the paper almost invisible." 

The following is one of the numerous certificates that have been published 
concerning this same remarkable medium in his character as a healer : 



426 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

"SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH. —A CONVERSION TO SPIRITUALIS:\I. 

'^December 20, 1S56." 

"Brothers Brittan and Partridge, — Having, through the kmd agency of Mr. 
James C. Wingard, been led from the darkness of unbelief into the glorious light of the 
spiritual faith, I deem it a duty which I owe, alike to him and to society at large, to make 
this public statement in relation to the matter. From the time that Spiritualism first be- 
gan to obtain headway, I took my stand as one of its bitterest opponents. 

" Not only was I a sceptic as to the peculiar doctrines of the new faith, but I was so to 
all faith which is worthy of the name. Immortality and God, and all the mysteries of the 
hereafter, were to me but as the dreams of fanatics and fools. I believed them not. 

" And in this I was not alone ; it was a family belief in which my wife and sister joined. 
Whether they had been contaminated by my ideas, or of their own accord had strayed into 
the barren wilds of doubt and disbelief, I cannot say. 

" The first time I ever saw Mr. Wingard was in the summer of 1853. My wife was at 
the time lying at the point of death. 

•' Our physician — a man of reputed skill — had abandoned all hope of her recovery. 

" On the morning of the 13th of August, 1853, she was taken with the ' yellow fever,' 
and on the evening of that day, — a fearful day in this city of New Orleans — when stand- 
ing at my door, I saw Mr. Wingard approach. Mistaking him, in the twilight, for a friend 
whom I expected, I asked him to walk in, and he did so. As soon as we advanced to the 
lighted room, I discovered my mistake, and told him that grief had so blinded me that I had 
mistaken him. 

" I knew not then how little my apologies were needed, and that I had found in him a 
friend indeed. With few preliminaries I told him of my poor wife's condition ; for, atheist 
though I was, I loved my Mary. 

*' Then it was that he breathed into my ear a spiritual hope, and told of the ministering 
angels which come to us from the realms of the departed, with healing on their wings. 

" Like the drowning man that catches at a straw, I caught at the hope he held out before 
me, and followed implicitly the advice he gave. That night, and a part of the night follow- 
ing, he sat up with my Mary, and when he called again on the second morning, the last 
bad symptoms had disappeared. 

"From that time she recovered rapidly, and in a week we parted from Mr. Wingard and 
saw no more of him till the early part of July in the present year. 

" At our next interview my wife was suffering from a severe attack of typhoid fever. She 
had wasted away almost to a skeleton, and physicians so disagreed in their diagnoses of her 
case, that I began to lose all confidence in them, especially as they all declared that she 
could not be cured. 

"Eventually I began to inquire for Mr. Wingard, and was grieved to find that he had 
gone to Louisville. My wife was certain that he could effect a cure, if he could but be 
found ; and, to satisfy her, I followed him to Louisville, but was again disappointed, by 
learning that on the moi-ning of my arrival he had started for New York. This mfonna- 
tion, however, proved to be unfounded, for, in a few days, I learned that he had retmmed 
to New Orleans. 

" Having, on our first acquaintance, heard a great deal from Mr. Wingard about Spir- 
itualism, and being informed that a healing medium had made his appearance at St. Louis, 

I made up my mind to see him. Accordingly, I visitf^d St. Louis, and gdt Mr. 

to make a spiritual examination of my wife's condition. After doing so, he informed me 
that she was incurable. This information, of itself, would have killed nine women out of 
ten who were in my wife's condition, but she still clung to hope — to the hope that Mr. 
Wingai-d would cure her. 

" By the time we arrived at New Orleans my wife was in a deplorable condition ; and at 
the time' that an interview with Mr. Wingard was obtained, I did not thmk thfit she could 
possibly live two days longer. When he called she was utterly unconscious. He tools 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 427 

hold of her hands, and almost immediately a trance-like change came over him. In his 
countenance a peculiar transformation took place, and from his hand an electric or healing 
influence passed to her, though she still remained unconscious. After he left she was soon 
restored to consciousness, when she informed us that she had had a vision of Mr. Wingard 
standing by her bedside and holding her hand; and when told that the vision was a 
reality, she seemed surprised and pleased. Mr. Wingard again called, the next day, and 
the next. 

"At the third interview he was deeply entranced, and the mysterious unfoldings of spirit- 
ual power which were then revealed, convinced me of the immortality of the soul, and of 
the real existence of a Supreme Being. I could no longer doubt that men in this life can 
h'old intimate and intelligible communion with departed relatives and friends from "the 
better land." I questioned Mi". Wingard, in his capacity of medium, of many things 
known only to myself and God. Among other things, he informed me of the particulars of 
a business transaction at Mobile; what we had seen in our recent trip, and, indeed, all the 
more notable events in my life's historj', thus reading my soid as 'an open book.' And is 
it to be wondered that he fixed my faith on what has heretofore been ' an undiscovered 
comitry?' Beside, he infonned my sister of many things which were significant to her 
alone, and mildly, yet strongly, rebuked both of us for our unbelief, in language the most 
touchingly beautiful that we ever listened to. He described accurately my father, mother, 
grandmother, two sisters, and the spirits of other deceased relatives, some of whom had 
been removed to the land of 'roseate shadows' full thirty years ago. In fact, I could fill 
pages with his wonderful revelations of things none knew but myself, and many of which 
I had even forgotten. As to my wife, he gave what was, as far as I am capable of judg- 
ing, a clear diagnosis of her disease, and a list of the medicines which were necessary to 
effect a cure. This was done while he was in a trance state, in which condition he continued 
for two hours. When he returned to his normal condition, he knew nothing of what had 
occmTed. 

" My wife enjoys better health now than she ever did before. I could i^elate many things 
which took place when my -wife was subsequently entranced, but to do so would be foreign 
to my present purpose. I merely wish to render justice to Mr. Wingard, to whom I owe 
more than I can ever repay. Money is no equivalent for the life he saved twice, and for 
the hopes of immortality which he was the means of reviving. I offered to pay him for his 
services, but he would take nothing, and it was with great difficulty indeed that I thrust a 
present into his hands. 

" Would to God that there were more like him ! I have no words to speak my gi-ati- 
tude for the restoration to health of my dear companion, and for the moral benefits alike 
obtained through his generous instrumentality. May his pathway through life be strewn 
with flowers, and brightened by a radiance from the di\dne source of love and hght ! 

" I am fraternally yours, 

"Robert H. Miller. 

"New Orleans, November ■z'^, 1S56." 

" We conciur in all of the above with feelings of profoundest love and gratitude to Mr. 
Wingard. 

[Signed] "Mary Miller. 

Elizabeth Jane Miller." 

The fact that mediumistic correspondence is almost the only record that 
has been kept of Southern Spiritualism, must plead our apology for the in- 
sertion of a letter written by the author, in i860, on the occasion of her 
engagement to deliver a course of lectures in New Orleans. As the letter 
con^ieys a far better idea of such local circumstances and conditions as be- 
long to our narrative at the time of writing, than could be gained by a more 



428 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

cold and distant retrospect, we shall crave permission to render it entire as 
it appeared in the Banner of Light of January, i860. 

"SPIRITUALISM IN THE SOUTH. * 

" Messrs. Editors, — Lest the report of ray experiences at Memphis should appear to 
convey to the numerous readers of your widely diffused pages the only illustration I can 
offer of Spiritualism in the South, permit me to present you with the reverse side of the 
pictui-e ; and as I promise you a statement as candid as the former, I hope you will, injustice, 
place it before your readers. 

"I arrived in New Orleans, the first part of December last, and was received mto the 
house of one of the wealthiest merchants in that city of merchant princes, and by him was 
treated with a kindness which I shall never forget. This gentleman is a fine medium, and, 
in the exercise of his beneficent gift of healing, has effected some very remarkable cures, 
which, in his modest, unostentatious kindness, the world knows nothing about. Half of 
the period of my residence in New Orleans was passed in this gentleman's house, and the 
other portion in the family of another New Orleans merchant, where I spent my Christmas 
and New Year. Those who have ever experienced the festivities of an English Christmas, 
and behold the affecting picture of family reunions, which the very poorest in the land con- 
trive to effect at this time, the healing up of old wounds, the uniting of long enstranged 
hearts in the cordial bonds of universal peace and good-will, but, above all, the tender 
rivalry with which families and kindred heap upon each other the tokens of their generous 
love and mutual affection, may picture the English medium and her only friend or relative on 
this vast continent, far away from friends, home, kindred, and all accustomed ties — and 
even this lonely mother and daughter separated by a distance of more than fifteen hundred 
miles; and yet, with these apparently mournful externalities to weigh upon a heart keenly 
alive to the world of sympathies, I am bound to acknowledge that the beautiful sphere of 
affection and human kindness by which I was surrounded, robbed the cold external of all 
its gloom, and made as bright and happy a Christmas for thfe stranger as I ever experienced 
m the midst of home and kindred. Amidst the profuse generosity with which friends 
greeted each other, I was never forgotten nor omitted, and my noble host and hostess, and 
the darling, fair creole girls of their family, made me forget every shade of gloomy remem- 
brance, save the absence of the beloved, far-away mother. My heart swells even now at 
the remembrance of this beautiful New Orleans family ; and there are many such there — 
bright jewels, which make the place, to me, a green and flowery haunt, where memory 
loves to dwell. 

" My first four lectures were given in a small hall, which the committee of gentlemen 
by whom I was engaged, had hired for this purpose; but, as great numbers had to go away 
on each occasion for want of room, a large and splendid room was secured for the remainder 
of the course. I remained in New Orleans during five Sundays, and, m addition to the usual 
morning and evening lectures, gave, with one or two exceptions, two week-night lectures per- 
week ; and, nothwithstanding the drawback of many days of unusually cold and piercing 
weather, some heavy rains and such consequent mud as the State of Louisiana alone 
can boast of, together with the interruption of the Christmas festivities, we never had a bad 
house, or failed to secure a good attendance. Night after night, the same intellectual 
heads and clear scrutinizing faces, might be seen in their accustomed places. Many of the 
finest minds- and clearest heads in this city annofinced their purpose of investigating the 
matter to the foundation, and waited on this course of lectures, to the exclusion, for the 
time, of aU the ordinary attractions for evening entertainments with which this gay city 
abounds. 

"Except in Boston, St. Louis, or Philadelphia, — cities with which my warmest love and 
gratitude are entwined, — I believe no spirit medium on this continent ever addressed a 
niore intellectual and appreciative audience than that which honored me in New Orleans ; 
and either the noble Creoles are determmed to take Spkitualism by storm, or the spirits are 



A2IERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 429 

deten-nined to take tliem. I believe, myself, the attraction is mutual ; for there are an un 
usual number of persons in the city possessed of medium power ; and, despite the humidity 
of the atmosphere, — so mifavorable to the production of these electro-spiritual manifesta- 
tions, — there is such a preponderance of intellectual and artistic mind ia this city, that I 
cannot but feel, with aid from the exponents of the philosophy, and mediums of the phenom- 
ena, there are elements enough in New Orleans to spiritualize the entire South.' 

" Shortly after my o'wn arrival in. the city. Dr. Redman made liis welcome advent ; and 
never, sm-ely, did a fairer opportimity present itself of practically testmg the truth of the 
rudimental forms of the philosophy presented in the lectures, than this most excellent 
test medium afforded. Theory and practice were here combined, as if by the determined 
and systematic order of the spirits ; for neither Dr. Redman nor myself had the least con- 
cert in the matter. Dr. Redman's seances, like my o^vn lectures, were nobly sustained ; 
and it must have been a much colder heart than mine, that could have remained untouched 
by the earnest and patient spirit of inquiry manifested at the lectures, and the many 
affecting scenes of recognition between long-lost friends, and bereaved hearts that received 
news from the beloved immortals beyond the veil, through Dr. Redman's wonderful 
powers as a test medium. 

"There is but one more point I must notice ere I bid farewell to the now most dear 
Crescent City. The hall hired for me is a very expensive one ; the charge for printing and 
advertising, in New Orleans, is very high, while the numbers who form my committee of 
arrangments were very small ; yet the whole of these lectures were given to the public by 
the liberality of the committee, without the charge of one single cent. Whatever contribu- 
tions were made toward expenses were wholly voluntary. That these were most generous, 
the many shining gold pieces that glittered in the hats of the gentlemen who nobly and 
fearlessly stood to receive them, bore ample witness. 

"Farewell, New Orleans ! land of the shining orange grove and fair magnolia — strange 
and beautiful city of life and death, in its most gorgeous and terrible luxuriance ! Should I 
never more grasp the dear hands that have so lovingly and generously sustained me in my 
work there, one of the most hallowed recollections of my mediumistic pilgrimage will be 
the effort I have been permitted to make, to aid in planting the glorious white standard 
of Spiritualism in thy midst! May its purity enfold thee, its strength sustaui thee,' and 
the countless legions of angel hosts who bear it inspire thee. I can but add my last, best 
prayer for thy weal. May its only motto, " onward and upward, " ever remam the rallying 
cry of New Orleans and the much loved friends it contains. 

" I am at present at Macon, Messrs. Editors ; and as I expect my career in the South ^^dU 
teiTninate in the course of another fortnight, I will resen'e the finale of my experiences 
in this section of the country for another paper. 

"I am, gentlemen, yours for the truth, 

"Emma Hardinge. 

"Macon, Ga., Jaimary, i860.'' 

The beautiful "Crescent City" has been visited by many a tempest of de- 
stroying change and icy materiansm since the date of this letter. In the brief 
period of eight years, thousands of its then blooming inhabitants have 
perished beneath the red reign of vv'ar or the fiery blasts of pestilence ; in fact, in 
no city of the Union have the twin angels of pain and death exerted a more 
fearful sway: and yet Spiritualism still lives, and is still fondly cherished 
there; in fact it has been maintained as the "magic staff" on which alone 
many a breaking heart and bereaved spirit could lean, and find assured 
strength and consolation. Latterly some of our best and most accomplished 
mediums have paid brief visits to the city ; and though the shadow of the 
Death Angel is still hovering above the orange groves, and the faint Avails 
of woe that have come up from many a gory battle-field sound in mournful 
echoes tlirough the drooping flags of the banana and pahn, the dear voices of 



430 HISTORY OF MODERN 

spirit friends have never been hushed, and their soft low whispers are gain- 
ing strength and number, and are ever making themselves heard by the shores 
of the mighty Mississippi, and wafting their immortal messages of love across 
the wide wastes of the treacherous and unresting gulf waters that skirt the beau- 
tiful Crescent City : in truth, Spiritualism is a fixed fact in Lousiana, and New 
Orleans has yet to proclaim it to the bruised and bleeding heart of that 
mourning State. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

SOUTHERN SPIRITUALISM, 

"Take what thy brother offers thee : perchance 
The simplest nature may have woke to see. 
At early mom, an angel in the sun. 
And brought from him great tidings to thy soul. 
In all thou "doest, first of all be true 
To thine own consciousness, to man, to God." 

T. L. Harris. 

The Cause in Georgia — Author's Correspondence — Testimonial from the 
Macon Spiritualists — Dr. Redman's Letter — Captain Sumpter's Ghost — 
Spiritualism in South Carolina — Soutpiern Illinois^ — Virginia — Cali- 
fornia — The NatuPvE of Evidence Considered — An English Gentle- 
man's Testimony — General Vallejo's Circle. 

In no part of the United States could have been found a more faithful 
and devoted band of Spiritualists than those who formed the nucleus of the 
cause in Macon, Georgia. 

Quite early in the movement, Dr. L. W. Andrews, the talented editor of 
the Georgia Citizen^ published another paper, called the Christian Spirit- 
tialisf, exclusively devoted to the cause of Spiritualism, ably written and 
most liberally sustained, chiefly by the zeal and enterprise of Dr. Andrews 
himself Besides this noble gentleman and his family, Spiritualism included 
many promineijt, and highly respected citizens of Macon in its ranks ; hence 
this place became a radiative centre, from whence the light was diffused to 
scattered believers in the faith, all through the State of Georgia. 

Macon was favored with several excellent mediums, amongst whom ]\Irs. 
Harvey, a Southern lady, and wife of a well-known Georgian, was particu- 
larly distinguished. 

This lady was a fine trance, seeing, test, and healing medium, and gener- 
ously gave her services to all who sought her aid. 

Mrs. Ostrander, now Mrs. Bliss,* an excellent trance speaker, created a 
remarkable interest by holding Sabbath meetings in Macon ; and in token of 
their appreciation of her services, the generous Spiritualists presented her 
v/ith, over and above a liberal recompense in money, a handsome gold watch 
and chain. 

Mr. George Redman remained some time in Macon, and by his wonderful 
and striking tests, brought over hundreds of intelligent minds to the belief in 
spirit communion. The author was almost the last medium who visited this 

* Lately passed to the spirit land. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 431 

place prior to the. terrible disruption produced in the whole Southern country 
by the calamitous war; and the wami, generous character of its Spiritualism 
and people cannot be more fully understood than by a perusal of the follow- 
ing letters taken from the Spiritual Telegraph and Banner of Light : 

" SPIRITUALISM IN THE SOUTH. 

** Editors of the Banner of Light : 

" Gentlemen, — Your correspondents in this section of country are few, yet your pages 
are highly appreciated, and in view of the channel for friendly intercourse which they un- 
fold, I have been requested to notice the condition of the few places where my restless feet 
have been permitted to make a temporary halt during my flying visit to the South, 

" Arriving at Macon just in time for my long-promised course of lectures, I was re- 
ceived by a very numerous body of Spiritualists I lectured in a good hall, 

to fine and appreciative audiences. The meetings were held under the generalship of Dr. 
Andrews, the enterprising editor of the Christian Spiritualist, and I am convinced that 
it needs but the laborers, to make Macon one of the finest spiritual harvest gi-ounds m the 
United States. Sundays and week-days alike, the most intelligent, and numerous audiences 
flocked to the lectures, while my days were spent among such demonstrations of kindness 

and hospitality as warms my heart with affectionate memory When I left 

Macon, I was laden with a beautiful little casket, the gift of my generous entertainers. Dr. 
and Mrs. Andrews, with a superb golden lining, fresh from the open purses and yet more 
open hearts of the whole society, besides the tears and blessings of a host of friends. 

'* Columbus, Georgia, with four ladies as its only Spiritualists, was my next field of opera- 
tions. Two of my kind Macon friends accompanied me there, and with a query of whether 
we could even get a hall to lecture in, we went, guided by the spirits' word of command, to 
lay siege to that quiet locality. 

"I inclose you herewith a brief notice from one of the daily local papers,* which will give 
a fair idea of the surprise, no less than kind appreciation, with which my efforts were met. 
My audience amoimted, on the first night, to about thirty, including my brave lady host- 
ess's family. On my last and third night's lecture they numbered some hundreds, of whom 
several sat on the ground, for want of seats. Four of the committee who, on the last 
evening, were chosen to select a subject, — men who, I was told, were equally distinguished 
for their intellectual attainments, respectability, and scepticism, — called on me, as I was 
about to return to fulfil my final engagements at Macon, to tender me a generous and can- 
did invitation to stay, and extend the period of my ' instruction ' amongst them as long as 
possible. I was compelled to go, but with regret at my inability to name any of our many 
distinguished mediums and lecturers who could follow me at once, and extend the bread of 
life to those who were thus earnestly seeking and hungering for it 

" Perhaps a more touching picture of constancy and patient endurance for the truth can- 
not be found anywhere than in the devotion of the estimable ladies who entertained myself 
and my Macon friends. Unsustained by male relatives or sympathizers, they have stood 
alone, bearing the brunt of the world's scorn and Mrs. Grundy's slirugging shoulders, until 
the happy hour when they were enabled to see Spiritualism presented to their persecutors 
after such a fashion as would at least insure it a respectful, if not popular position hereafter ; 
and, with this, these self-sacrificing, generous women consider themselves amply rewarded. 
My Macon friends were a gentleman and his wife, who left family, home, and dollar-making, 
to go to the trouble .and expense of protecting me, hiring the hall, settling the details, and — 
the lady being a good medium, — sitting free of charge for those who came to inquire of us 
for ' more light . ' Surely the expenses of the j ourney were invested well, for the interei t of t he 

* Omitled here. 



432 HISTORY OF MODERN 

happiness with which we all returned, far exceeded the legitimate rate allowed by the law 
of the Union, and amounted to perfect usury. 

•' My last visit was to Wilmington, North Carolina, where private hospitality of the warmest 
kmd, and public appreciation equally lavish, have sent me on my way rejoicing. 

" Farewell, bright South ! and, while the fervent ' God bless you ' parts the lips of the 
woman, she is still a medium for hosts of spirits who pronounce a blessing througli the 
earth form of 

"Emma Hardinge. 

*' Febrtcary 2, i860." 

A Still further evidence of the generous appreciation with which Southern 
SpirituaHsts regarded their mediums, is to be found in the following letter, 
presented to the author along with a handsome silver porte-monnaie amply- 
lined with gold, at the close of her lectures in Macon. 

The letter was subsequently forwarded by the Spiritualists of Macon, for 
publication, to the Spiritual Telegraph, from the columns of which it is now 
reprinted : 

"THE MACON (GEORGIA) SPIRITUALISTS TO MRS. EMMA HARDINGE. 

"Macon, yanuary, 24, i860. 
•' To Mrs. Emma Hardinge: 

"Dear Madam, — The little faithful band of Spiritualists of Macon have authorized us, 
a committee appointed for the purpose, by an impromptu meeting held at the close of your 
lecture, last evening, to convey to you the heartfelt emotions of gratitude which they, indi- 
vidually and collectively, entertain for yourself personally, and the very high appreciation 
with which they regard your recent manifestations of love in their midst. 

"In obedience to this outgushing mandate of warm and affectionate hearts, permit us to 
say, Mrs. Hardinge, that we desire not to offend the delicacy of your noble nature by any 
fulsome adulation ; but, in our feeble way, to express our gratification and delight at being 
permitted to partake of such a soul's festival as we have enjoyed in attendance upon your 
lectures. 

" We have had our darkened minds illumined by the divine radiance of the glorious phil- 
osophy breathed through your lips. We have had our hearts' best affections stirred within 
us to their very depths by the glowing and eloquent instruction imparted tlirough your me- 
diumship, and we feel that our spiritual natures have been fed with the bread of life, and our 
thirsty spirits have been abundantly refreshed by the waters of eternal truth, which have, 
through you, been poured out upon us with such prodigality and richness. 

" How else, then, can we feel but joyfully grateful ? How otherwise than profoundly im- 
pressed with our sense of obligation, firstly, to the great Father of spirits, who has opened 
up to our vision the ineffable glories of a blissful immortality ; secondly, to that shining cir- 
cle of invisible intelligences, who have so successfully used your organism to illustrate and 
enforce the laws of progress, life, and inspiration ; and thirdly, to yourself, gentle lady, for 
the patient, earnest, and affectionate manner in which you have subjected all your physical 
and intellectual capabilities to the use of those for whose benefit you have labored! . . . 
For you, personally, permit us to express, once more, the best wishes of all our hearts : that 
all the happiness of which your sympathetic and cultivated nature is susceptible may be 
yours, without a throb of pain to embitter your future ; and that when' life's work is done 
upon this footstool, we may all meet again with Emma, in those briglit celestial spheres, 
where faith ends in knowledge, and hope in fruition. 

" Fraternally yours, etc. , 

" L. F. W. Andrews, ] 

John P. Harvey, \ Committee." 
F. F. Lewis, ) 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 433 

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM DR. RED]\LA.N, DATED, 
Macon, Georgia, December i, 1859. 

" We arrived at Wilmington at seven o'clock, p.m., where I found the pioneer of our 
cause in that section, Colonel John McRae, waiting my reception. I was conveyed to the 
city hotel, and commenced my circles the following morning, i6th inst. Hardly had my 
doors been thrown open before I was besieged by inquiries. The to^vn being small, the 
news of a spirit medium's aiTival was well advertised in a few hours, and those who could 
not obtain entrance, contented themselves by gazing through the windows, and applying 
their auricular appendages to the crevices in the doors. 

"Instead of receiving visitors in private, as has been my custom heretofore, I have been 
forced to divide the time into six circles, of two hoiu-s each, allowing ten persons to form 
each, that I ■ might see the greater number in the shortest time, my stay bemg limited. 

" I was quite surprised to find that the magnitude of the circle interfered not a whit ■\\dth 
the personal character of the tests and the communications given, for one by one would 
declare themselves satisfied, and would acknowledge the source from which came that evi- 
dience. I shall pursue the same plan during my labors South. 

"A stay of one week brought before me about five himdred persons, and of all that 
number, only two left me in the least sceptical concerning the phenomena of modern 
Sphitualism. 

"One of these two, was a certain Major , who preferred to commune with spirits in 

the form, and was exposed by a communication from the spirit of my father, addressed to the 
circle, saying : 'That man communicates with fictitious spirits, and he is satisfied.' The 
other was Mr. J., who, hauated by some speculative genii, offered me a check of five hun- 
dred dollars for the secret. 

" Neither of these investigators were convinced : the first, because he could not speak sat- 
isfactorily with those in the form ; the second, because he failed to make a bargain for that 
which hath no price. 

" Dr. Barker, a lecturer on phrenolog}', who was drawing large crowds nightly at the 
Town Hall, declared, if his wife would tell him where he was on the night of her departure 
from earth, he would announce himself a Spiritualist at his next public lecture. He ac- 
cordingly came to my apartments \A\\\ some friends, and was seated at the table but a short 
time before his spirit companion 'OTote as follows : 

" ' My Dear Husband, — You were lying on the bed by my side when I left you for 
the spirit -world. 

" ' Thy young ■\\dfe, 

"'Julia.' 

" The man jumped from his seat, ■ndped the dew of emotion from his eyes, and informed 
the circle that ' for weeks he had been attending his wife, night and day, until nature gave 
out, and he was compelled to sleep ; and while slumbering, his dear one closed her eyes in 
rest, as peacefully as a child.' The scene was impressive, and deeply did the professor feel 
the force of his spirit-wife's message. 

"Agreeably to promise he announced the result publicly, remarldng that bigots only 
would refuse to investigate, and fools only would cry out against these modem phenomena ; 
but ^\'ise men would turn the leaf under which contained a philosophy so beautiful. Dr. B. 
declared to me, before leaving, that a few more such evidences would place him in the field 
as a teacher of our faith, and ' he would preach it without fear or favor. ' 

" Although pressed exceedingly by mvestigators, and believers multiplyuig on every side, 
I left Wilmington at six o'clock, A.M. on the 23d instant, owing to the impatience of the 
friends in Macon, some of whom had already been waiting for days, and came many miles 
from the country. After a second jaunt of about three hundred miles, through dismal 
swamps and characteristic woodland, I arrived at Macon on the morning of the 24th. I 



434 HISTORY OF MODERN 

found Brother L. F. W. Andrews, of the Christian S-piriiiialist prostrated, as the result 
of a fracture of the clavicle, he havmg been thrown from his buggy the day before. 

" Here I Imve been received with all the warmth characteristic of Southern hearts, every- 
thing being provided, and all that was required of me was to take my seat at the table and 
meet another flood of characters, equal in number to those who visited me at Wilmington. 

" My reception rooms are in front of the Spiritualist office, and have been fitted up for 
my especial accommodation. I can assure my friends and our mediums, if they ever follow 
me in this vicinity, they will be made members of the same family, and cared for as such. 
I was amused, while sitting at my window with Brother Lanning, last Sab- 
bath evening, at a soiree musicale. The servants of the house, prompted by a spirit of de- 
votion, were indulging in the following pathetic stanzas set to music : 

" ' Come along, come along ! we're going home to glory, hallelujah ! ' ' We're going 
all to heaven, hallelujah!' 'Then we'll shake hands together, hallelujah!' 'I'm 
gwine to my Saviour, bye'n bye.' ' I'm off among the angels bye 'n bye.' 

"During the singing, the raps very emphatically kept time. 

" With hopes for the cause in our own city, and the spread of truth tlrroughout the world. 

" I am, yours, etc., 

" G, A. Redman. 
" Spiritual Telegraph.'''' 

The following incident is given as it appeared in a secular paper, the Sat- 
urday Evening Gazette, of Bishopville. A far more circumstantial, though 
over prolix account, was furnished to the author by some near relatives of 
Mr. Bateman's, with a number of written attestations to the truth of the 
story : 

"In the year 1826, at Bishopville, South Carolina, Captain William Sumpter, a grandson 
of General Thomas Sumpter, committed suicide, and was buried at the Baptist churchyard, 
about one and a half miles from Bishopville. His gi-ave is about ten steps from the public 
road, leading from Bishopville to Sumpt^rville. In a few weeks after this, William Bate- 
man, a man of great courage was riding from Bishopville to his home, about three miles off, 
and as he passed by Captain Sumpter's grave, at about twelve or one o'clock in the night, 
the moon shone brightly; he informed me the next morning that Captain Sumpter arose from 
his gi-ave and came to him, and placed his hand on his stirrup, and just before he disap- 
peared, he informed Bateman it was his time next. In a few days after this, a man by the 
name of James B. Reaves shot Bateman, giving him a mortal wound, which did not termi- 
nate fatally for two or three weeks. Bateman managed to ride from Reaves' s house to the 
house of Moses Roundtree, and when he arrived there, sent for Dr. Bishop, and his brother 
John Bateman, the latter at that time overseer for Dr. Bishop ; and although W. Bate- 
man's house was much nearer than Bishopville, he requested to be taken to the latter place, 
which was done, and he died at his brother's house at Bishopville. I was acting as a mag- 
istrate at that time, and as there was no witness present when Reaves shot Bateman, I 
thoiTght it proper to take his dying confession, as it would be good evidence ; and a few 
hours before his death, I took down his statement ; and as the circumstance of his seeing 
Sumpter occurred to me, I asked him to give me a statement again, and he said it was as he 
stated before, and that he was not mistaken. He observed to me that it was not imagina- 
tion, and said, ' Don't you see it has happened as he told me ? ' 

"J- B.» 

Tiiis circumstance [parallel cases of which are now so familiar amongst 
Spiritualists] awakened a spirit of inquiry in South Carolina which never 
shunbered until the report of the "Rochester knockings" had tlirown light 
upon the hitherto dreaded mystery of " supernaturalism. " At the time 
when the author visited North Carolina, as .above referred to, there were a 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 435 

numerous body of Spiritualists scattered all over the sister State, but despite 
of the fervent zeal and large numbers of believers, the times were deemed too 
unsettled to permit the dissemination of spiritual ideas, hence an engagement 
which Mrs. Hardinge had entered into to lecture at Charleston, South Caro 
lina, was negatived after the fashion of the Alabama Legislature ; for, although 
the act denunciatory of spiritual manifestations was not actually carried, it 
was significantly threatened, with the aid of "Judge Lynch" to back its en- 
forcement. Notwithstanding the fear of South Carolina politicians that 
liberal ideas, even of the " the hereafter, " might endanger their peculiar in- 
stitution on earth, it was evident they could not shake themselves free of 
home-made Spiritualism, for at the very time when the Charleston [South 
Carolina] Courier was most fiercely denouncing the " incendiary practices of 
the abhorrent Spiritualists, " it was innocently filling its columns with accounts 
■of certam strange manifestations, which it evidently did not recognize as 
the very gist of the incendiarism. 

The following which is taken from that journal itself, is a specimen of the 
success which the Legislature obtained in attempting to kill out Spiritualism. 

" A correspondent, for whom the editor can vouch, relates the following : 
" A few evenings since, a little circle of three young girls were sitting at a table which 
was in violent motion. Communications by 'rapping,' through the alphabet, were thrown 
off with great rapidity, and names of departed persons were given as being present and con- 
ducting the phenomena. One of the young ladies at the table is a wTiting medium ; and at 
my request she took a pencil, and in a few seconds began to -write with great rapidity, in a 
clear, bold hand, her eyes being shut. In a short time it was announced that a person re- 
cently deceased was present. At the instant, a thought occurred that I could test the mat- . 
ter in anew way, and I asked — though not sitting near the table myself — this question: 
'Will you answer, if, instead of calling the alphabet, I substitute numbers from i to 26 — 
say I to mean A, 2 B, 3 C, etc.? ' The reply was, 'Yes.' I said : * Tell me who you are ? 
and I began calling the numbers, one, two, thrfee, etc. The raps occurred upon different 
numbers, which I put down on paper, no one in the room, not even myself, knowing what 
letters the numbers denoted. After the raps had ceased, I privately selected the letters and 
placed them over the numbers, and could make no sense of the name. I said so, but did 
not name the letters. The table began to rap, and spelled out, in the usual way, these 
words : ' I did not give the right number last. ' Nimibers were again called, and the num- 
ber next to the one before given was struck. On placing the corresponding letter over it, 
the whole name became perfect and complete. Without intimatmg that any name was 
made out, I asked for the name through the writing medium. After an instant she wrote, 
and the corresponding same name of the deceased person was written. Now here I had 
two different communications indifferent ways : one in a mode which by its nature forbade 
deception, and the other through a young lady, whose very soul would revolt at the idea of 
trifling with the dead, or deceiving her friends." 

Another of the South Carolina papers gave the following, amongst many 
other varied accounts of spiritual phenomena with which it regaled its readers 
in one column, whilst others were filled with emphatically Southern warnings to 
avoid "Spiritualism" on pain of the favorite South Carolina argument of the 
time — the bowie knife or tar and feathers. The article would not be inserted 
here, only it relates to a section of country which has since become widely 
spiritualized through the mediumship of the parties referred to : 

"EXTRAORDINARY MANIFESTATIONS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 
" A correspondent of the Du Quoin Mining yournal, vouched for by the editor as * a 
man of truth under oi-dinary circumstances,' gives the following account of some very singiUaJ 
manifestations near that place, of which he was an eye-witness : 



436 HISTORY OF MODERN 

"About the middle of the month of March last, after I had retired to bed for the night 
and was thinking of my plans for the next day, I heard a loud knocking upon the door, and 
opening it, found my nearest neighbor, Mr. L., awaiting me. He was trembling from head 
to foot, at which I was greatly surprised, as the night was quite warm, considering the time 
of year. 

"'For God's sake come to my house immediately' said he. 'Satan or some of his 
crew have taken possession of the premises, and are playing the devil generally ! ' 

" He would give me no time to ask questions, but was exceedingly anxious that I should 
accompany him. I had scarcely got my clothes on, when he took me by the arm and 
hurried me along towards his residence. He entered the main room of the building, closely 
followed by myself. There the most wonderful sight I ever beheld presented itself to 
my view. Mr. L.'s wife and two eldest daughters were huddled up in one comer of the 
room, and each was the personification of terror. They were clinging to each other and 
sobbing violently. Near the fireplace was the youngest daughter, a very pretty girl, mov- 
ing round in a kind of waltz-like dance, with arms in a horizontal position, seemingly para- 
lyzed, and humming a singular air. Strange to say every piece of furniture in the house 
was keeping perfect time with the movements of the girl, and a clock on the mantel-piece 
had ceased running, but a continuous stream of sounds rung from its bell, and added greatly 
to the confusion then prevalent. A square table cut the queerest antics of anything in the 
room. First it would tip forward on the two front legs, then on the two hinder ones, and 
lastly spin around on one leg like a top, and again tip forward and backward. A fire- 
shovel was dancing a jig on the hearth ; the wood was rolling about, and the pots and 
skillets made an outlandish racket. 

" Suddenly the young girl ceased waltzing; she stood like a statue, and instantly every 
article of furniture settled in its accustomed place. The lighted candle, which was standing 
on the mantel-piece, was suddenly extinguished, as if by an invisible person. The fire upon 
the hearth was quite low, and gave a very faint light. 

"Immediately after the extinguishment of the candle, a green light, interspersed with 
orange-colored rays, seemed to envelop the upper portion of the girl's body, giving her a 
supernatural appearance, and the most melodious sounds followed, resembling the music of 
^olian harps, appearing to be around, below, and above the occupants of the room. 
This lasted about ten minutes, when the music ceased, and the green light disappeared; but, 
as if by magic, the candle on the mantel-piece was ignited, and the girl fell insensible to the 
floor. Some two hours elapsed before she was fully restored from her trance-like sleep ; 
but every vestige of the singular performance in which she had participated had escaped her 
memory. Almost nightly since, spiritual demonstrations have occurred at my neighbor's 
house, yet differing in many respects from those witnessed by me." 

The following manifestation is vouched for by an indefatigable and tal- 
ented correspondent of the early spiritual papers — the Rev. John B. Wolff, 
a gentleman who resided at the time of the occuirence in Wheeling, Virginia, 
and who constantly reported phases of spiritual phenomena, and the rapid pro- 
gress of the cause in that section of country, in the most encouraging terms : 

" During the last week I went some twenty-five miles to get the particulars of a singu- 
lar development, wholly imanticipated. 

"The north-east part of Jefferson County, Ohio, is the locality of the parties and facts. 
Mr. L. was the victim of an erroneous life, and bed-fast with palsy, living in a retired neigh- 
borhood with a part of his children, all of whom are daughters. In the spirit-world he has 
several sons. The family neither knew nor believed anything about the rappings. One 
evening, after a part of the girls had retired, a distant sound was heard, resembling a bass- 
drum ; gradually it came nearer, until it came into the house, and was heard in different 
parts of it. Some of the girls ran to a neighbor's for some person to come and stay with 
them. The sounds still continued, together with almost every form of the phenomena, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 437 

until the old man died. The bed on which the old man lay was carried out into the middle 
of the room by these invisible agents. Candles hanging against the wall leaped down, 
separated, struck different individuals gently, and fell on the floor without injuring the 
candles in any degree. Chairs, tables, and all other articles of fiurniture, were moved with- 
out any visible contact, and that, too, in opposition to the will-power of the parties. Some 
thought the girls were bevvdtched, others, that there was a trick, while orthodoxy decided 
it was the devil. 

" Tire family were much annoyed and persecuted on account of it. After they became 
calm they questioned the invisible agent, and it persisted in saying that these things were 
done by a deceased brother ; that they were intended for good, and would cease when the 
father died. He is dead, and they have ceased, but not without awaking much interest 
in liberal minds. The end is not yet. The medium is about twelve years of age, and 
brought up in seclusion from the world. I have given you only a faint outline of the facts ; 
use them as you list. 

"J. B. Wolff." 

It would be needless further to attempt gathering up the scattered 
threads which have woven the woof of Spiritualism all over the Southern 
country. 

For reasons mentioned in a former chapter, the Southern States, burdened 
with the restrictive curse of slavery, had always been deemed unfruitful, nay, 
utterly " barren soil," for the planting of the spiritual seed, whilst the very 
nj.ture of the ban which the slave-holding population deemed themselves 
obliged to place upon the introduction of all experimental ideas or "free 
thought," seemed as though it would have furnished ample reasons against 
the favorable reception of Spiritualism. 

Our retrospect, brief as it has been, must afford a complete refutation of 
these stereotyped, but erroneous opinions 

When the desolating scourge of war swept over the land, it necessarily de- 
stroyed the orderly relations which had begun to arise in the spiritual move- 
ment, Vv'hilst the resources for reliable record became utterly suspended in 
the Southern States. 

Dr. Andrews's excellent paper, the Christian Spiritualist, ceased. The 
regular Sabbath meetings which had been established in Macon, St. Louis, 
Memphis, New Orleans, and other great Southern centres, v/ere also sus- 
pended. 

The minds of the people, fevered by ruin and accumulating calamity, were 
too much agitated to cultivate the communion, and that which spontaneously 
appeared, partook of the ghastly nature of the dreadful scenes which w^ere 
being enacted on every side. 

Visions of dire and awful import swam before the eyes of the seers. Prop- 
hecies of coming strife and ever deepening Avoe parted their pale lips, and 
poured in ecstatic frenzy through their entranced utterances. 

Terrible portents filled the air, and monitions of death, bereavement, and 
coming calamity, hovered around every mediumistic person, and sighed their 
doleful notes of warning to the very winds of heaven. Whole volumes could 
be written in proof of the prophetic warnings which heralded in every tragic 
event of this hideous conflict, and proved the intense sympathy of the unseen 
world with the great struggle. 

Both sections of the contending parties laid claim to spiritual guidance in 
tlae course they pursued, but though we shall hereafter devote one chapter to 
the Spiritualism of the war, the whole subject is too vast, weird, and terrible, 
to form a picture suitable to the calm contemplation of retrospective eyes. 
We shall now, therefore, take leave of SpirituaUsm in the South, and invite 



433 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

the reader to glance at the progress which it has made in the Pacific States, 
Cahfornia, and Nevada. 

Before entering upon this part of our task, we must again impress upon the 
reader our beHef in the correspondence which exists between atmospheric, 
geologic, and magnetic influences. 

All these in Spiritualism are represented in the character of phenomena, 
and the endowments of media. When the author first visited the Pacific 
coast, and reported from thence certain spiritual manifestations, which, though 
as well attested as any circumstances could possibly be that had not a world- 
Avide operation, the astounding force and weird character of her relations sub- 
jected them to a most unphilosophical degree of incredulity on the part of 
those Spiritualists who made their own experiences the standard of all other 
persons. 

Forgetting the tremendous demonstrations which are established beyond 
question amongst the Hindoos, North American Indians, certain oriental 
nations, and savage tribes; disregarding the vast shock which their own cher- 
ished early prejudices had received, when they were first startled with the re- 
ality of the simplest of revelations from beyond the tomb, — even well-informed 
Spiritualists, or those who, from long experience of a certain set of phenomena, 
deemed themselves such, undertook to pronounce the hazardous verdict of 
"impossible" upon some of the narratives which the Spiritualism of California 
supplied. Many very shrewd and intelligent Californians had foreseen this 
treatment of what they had themselves witnessed, and, for their "own self- 
respect's sake" had withheld their experiences from the carping criticism of 
theii Eastern brethren. But the author's motto has ever been, "The truth 
against the world; " and feeling assured that the time must come when all that 
is mysterious in spirit intercourse will be fully interpreted by science, and 
marvels which seem to transcend belief shall fade into insignificance before 
the more extended powers which knowledge will unveil of the operations be- 
tween spirit and matter, the author has determined now, as heretofore, to dis- 
regard the comments of the ignorant for their ignorance's sake, and make 
the record faithfully for the truth's sake, even if she have to wait for the ap- 
proving verdict of a more spiritually instructed generation on this part of the 
narrative. 

It is rather curious to observe the indignation and haste wherewith the 
Spiritualist proceeds to condemn the sceptic for discrediting the facts which 
he can personally testify of, and yet how unwittingly he takes that sceptic's 
place, when other facts are presented to him of which he has not had personal 
experience. 

This course., we repeat, is not a very philosophical one, especip-lly when, 
as in the cases we shall presently relate, the phenomena are verified by persons 
of credit and standing, equal to any whose witness has ever been cited in 
the page of human history. 

Be this as it may, we shall present our examples to the reader, changing 
very little of form or style from the original narratives supplied by the author 
to the Hej'ald of Progress : 

"SPIRITUALISM IN CALIFORNIA. 

" It is frequently asserted in spiritual communications, that strong magnetic manations are 
exhaled by the strong passions of human beings, and given off in abimdant force in violent 
death. 

"In illustration of this proposition, spirits cite numerous cases of haunted houses, where 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 



439 



it will be most generally found that blood has been spilled, life rudely destroyed, or deeply 
rooted criminality has exhaled the strong atmosphere of passion. 

" In all these instances a powerful charge of human magnetism is liberated, and this, adher- 
ing to wood, stone, plants, or any other contiguous physical substance, forms a permanent 
mediumistic force which altracts the spu-it connected with it, and sometimes even enchauis 
it, for a stated period, to the sphere of the emanations. 

"We offer this observation, to show why California, which, for some years after the dis- 
covery of gold, became the theatre of all those lawless passions and scenes of violence which 
ever run riot under such circumstances, might reasonably be expected to manifest the 
presence of those weird and earth-bound spirits, who, in the first few years of its fevered 
existence as a gold country, were sent in vast numbers into the spuit-world, throu<Th the 
gate of lumatural death, crime, and strife. 

' ' The wonderful transparency of the atmosphere, and the hea\y charges of mineral mag- 
neiism which permeate California, seem to be amongst other causes which peculiarly favor 
the vision of the seer and the production of powerful supra-mundane phenomena. 

"These and other reasons combined, have produced manifestations of almost unequalled 
marvel, although it is only within the last few years that any systematic attempts to 
present its philosophy publicly to the world have been successful. " 

"Allusion has already been made to the visit of Dr. Gardner, of Boston, to the shores 
of the Pacific State, by which an early impetus was given to the cause, and through which 
some permanent mediumistic developments took place. 

•' The first manifestations of which we shall speak Avere recorded by an English gentle- 
man weUknown and highly esteemed by the editor of the Spiritual Universe, who, together 
with several mutual friends of his own and the author's, vouch for the entire reliability of 
his statement. 

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS IN CALIFORNIA.— SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE, JULY 12, 1856. 

" In an extensive and fertile valley, about eight miles from the city of Los Angelos, in 
California, stand the remains of the Mission San Gabriel, one of the first missions founded 
during the last century, by Spanish Dominicans, for the purpose of Christianizing the In- 
dians. Since the exchange of the jNIexican government for that of the United States, the 
neglected gardens and orchards have been occupied by American squatters. 

"In August, 1853, a family named Hildreth arrived across the plains, took possession 
of a part of the mission domain, and built a comfortable one-story house on it. The family 
is large and very well to do, having brought over a considerable amount of stock from the 
United States. In the winter, reports of an extraordinary nature were in circulation in Los 
Angelos respecting tiie powers of two of the daughters as mediums. 

"It was said that mere table tipping v^^as quite cast in the shade by these young women, 
who were among the most powerful mediums known ; that not only could they produce 
raps in any part of the house, but these noises accompanied them v^-herever they went, and 
would answer questions intelligibly. It was moreover stated that tables and other articles 
of furniture were moved and thrown about without the contact, or even the %\dll of the me- 
diums, and that doors were opened and shut by some invisible agency. 

"Curiosity was so much excited, that those who could claim any acquaintance witl^ or 
could get an introduction to the family, visited San Gabriel in parties, to witness those ex- 
traordinary doings. 

' * On questioning persons as they returned from these so-called spiritual manifestations, I 
found their answers could be thus classified : 

" First. Those who were Roman Catholics declared it was certainly the Devil's doings. 

" Second. Persons who knew little of natural science thought electricity was the cause of 
the phenomena, and spoke as if they had given a sufficient, as well as a scientific explanation. 

" Third. Those generally the best informed, who could only account for what they had 
seen and closely observed by the recognition of some natiural agency, of which we at pre- 
sent know nothing, or else that the disturbances were actually produced by spirits. But no 
one returned with the impression that he had witnessed a case of .delusion or imposition. 

"After a time a new phase appeared. Voices were heard in and about the house 
either conversing together or addressing different members of the family. IMy friend, 
the editor of the Los Angelos Star, could no longer remain away, bnt went and sat 



440 HIS TOR Y OF MODERN 

up in the kitclien alone after the family had retired to rest. He informed me, on his re- 
turn, that, after a careful and painstaking investigation, his astonishment became excessive ; 
that he had carried on a long conversation with voices in the air ; had witnessed tlie tnrowing 
about of trunks and chairs, as well as the opening and shutting of doors by some invisible 
agency ; and that a sceptical friend, on his first arrival, had asked the spirits to do some- 
thing to astonish him, when he was instantly drenched wich cold water, there not being pre- 
viously a drop of water in the room. 

" I will nov/ proceed to relate only what I myself saw and heard. At the solicitation of 
those who were unable to leave town, the Misses Hildreths paid a visit to some friends in 
Los Angelos, to exhibit their remarkable powers. It was at one of the meetings that fol- 
lowed where I first heard the ' raps. ' Table-tipping I had frequently seen; and although 
remarkable communications had been made me by this means, I was still doubtful whether 
or not the answers were unconsciously influenced by the minds, either of the mediums or 
the spectators. But here were the raps, loud rapping occurring in any room the mediums 
entered for the first time in their lives, on the tables, or within a box, or on the floor. 
There was no 'imagination' here. 'Rap ten times,' says one visitor, and ten distinct 
knocks are counted by the whole company. 'Rap out my name, and I'll believe }'0U,' says 
another ; and his name was correctly spelled out. Tables were moved about and turned 
over by the mere contact of two fingers; and a singular scene occurred, in which the united 
strength of two men was unable to set the table again on its legs, as long as Miss Hild- 
reth' s finger was in contact with some part of it. 

" The violent efforts of the men would now and then partly succeed, when the table 
would rebound against them, and nearly throw them down. 

"In February, 1854, I determined, before leaving California, to accept an invitation to 
visit the Hildreth family, a': San Gabriel, and drove over my wife and two other ladies to 
their residence. On approaching the house, everything appeared in order, except the win- 
dows, in which scaixely a single entire pane of glass remained ; it was, indeed, a complete 
smash. This, we were told, was done by the spirits throwing in stones * until they have 
given up mending them.' After enjoying a hospitable dinner, during which the parents told 
us that the rappings had accompanied their daughters ever since they were infants in the 
cradle, years before any one referred them to spiritual agency, we adjourned to a small room, 
in which was a large bed, a table, and a few chairs. The first experiment was to make a 
four-legged table walk out of doors, the medium having but one finger in contact. This 
feat was accomplished ; but in moving over the rough ground, the leg on which the talkie 
was walking, hitched, and broke off. The large, heavy bedstead, with mattress and feather 
bed, was then moved about the room with great ease. One of the mediums was, at thir 
time, sitting on a chair at the opposite end of the room, when the bed suddenly made 
tOT/ard her, and rising up at one end, placed itself in her lap. The other sister had two 
fingers resting on the head-board. The bed was afterward found exceedingly heavy, and 
the force required to move it over the uneven earth floor very great. 

"We then referred to the reports that vai'ious articles were moved about the house Avith- 
out any personal contact, and even without their will. They answered, that every evenmg, 
about dusk, these remarkable disturbances began. 

" Miss H. pointed to a large trunk, which on the previous night had been laid across her 
chest, after having been in bed a few minutes ; she begged them not to disturb her, and it 
was quietly removed to its place. She added, that lately the bedclothes had been suddenly 
jerked off them, and once or twice their rings had been taken off their fingers, and hid in 
out-of-the-way places, and yet they said, they were particular to lock their bed-room doors. 
One of the party expressed a wish to see some article of furniture moved without any one 
beir^g in contact. One of the mediums stated that such things had occurred only at night, 
but she would try. A chair was placed on the ground in the middle of the room, and she 
held her hand about a foot above it. Some time passed away, and she evidently doubted 
of succeeding ; when, with a sudden jerk, it scampered off and upset itself about six feet 
from her. 

" Our time for departure was now approaching, and the party retired to the common sit 
ting room to take a little refreshment before starting. The rapping noise still continued 
near the mediums, generally on the floor or some article of furniture near which they sat. 
The father proposed that his daughters should sing a song, and request the ' spirits ' to ac- 
company them. This they did by rapping on or about a table standing in the centre of the 
room, the whole sounding very much like half a dozen persons beating 'the devil's tattoo' 
with their knuckles. A violin was then placed in its box on the floor, when, on repeating 
the song, the strings were sounded in accompaniment, staccato fashion. 

"The family pressed us exceedingly to remam the night, as what we had witnessed ?'/as 
trifling to wliat usually took place after dusk 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 441 

" With one observation, I will now conclude. 

"If the hundreds of intelligent persons, strangers to, and apart from each other, who 
have been closely observing such singular phenomena, all arrive at the conclusion that these 
supposed delusions are tangible facts, stern realities, — if all these, and thousands of others 
have been deceived, — of what use is evidence at all? 

" Such is the self-sufficiency of learned bodies in England that they sneer at anythmg which 
does not conform to, or emanate from their ' school," and will not condescend to give this 
wonderful subject an unbiassed examination, or even an examination of any kind." 

"The writer of this resides in Hampstead Road, London, and speaks of what he has 
personally witnessed." — Spiritual Universe. 

We have recorded the character of phenomena occurring in one of the most 
remote parts of the State. The following seances were held in a district 
scarcely less removed from the great centres of human intercourse than San 
Gabriel, hence less likely to be the result of contagious fancy or organized 
deception : 

"SPIRITUALISM IN CALIFORNIA.— BANNER OF LIGHT. 

" We copy from the Family Circle, published at San Francisco, California, the following 
extracts from a long account of the spiritual manifestations witnessed at the residence of 
General Vallejo in Sonoma valley. We commence with the account of the second evening's 
circle : 

" The circle was arranged as before, under the direction of the spirits, all hands being 
j oined. 

"The performances of tipping, rapping, sounding the strings of the guitar, and beating 
time with the table, were repeated at this sitting. 

" The room being momentarily darkened, the spirits were then asked to sound the keys 
of the piano. This was also complied with in various ways, as called for by, and to the 
satisfaction of, those present. 

" Some one asked that the guitar might be removed to the centre-table. Instead of this 
request being literally complied with, the guitar was taken up and conveyed to a sofa in a 
remote corner of the room, and laid noiselessly down upon it, where it was found on relight- 
ing the apartment. This was repeated, when it was asked if the spirits would convey the 
guitar out of the room. 

" The guitar was taken up above the heads of the circle, striking the hanging crystals of 
a chandelier in its course ; and, on relighting the candles, it was satisfactorily ascertained, 
after diligent search, that it was not in the room, nor in the adjoining hall. 

" Andronico Vallejo, the o^vner of the guitar, began to think that it had really disap- 
peared beyond recovery, and upbraided Dr. Van Geldern, who made the request, with his 
loss. Dr. Frisbie then remarked that he should be on his guard against imposition in this 
instance, and accordingly he critically examined the doors and windows, to assure himself 
that no person could enter the room without being noticed. The room was again darkened, 
and the spirits requested to return the guitar. A loud whizzing noise, and the sounding of 
the strings of the guitar, were heard outside of the house, and presently also within the 
house as though it were approaching the circle, which it soon did, the instrument being quiet- 
ly deposited on the floor near by. An explanation by the spirits was afterwards given of this 
interesting feat, to the effect that the doors were noiselessly opened, unperceived by the circle, 
in order to accomplish the transportation of the guitar to and fro, and that it had been con- 
cealed on the verandah, which is shaded by a thick growth of Madeira vine, whUe the mem- 
bers of the circle were in 'search of it. The circle then concluded to separate. 

" On the third evening, August 25, at the same place, — the house of General Vallejo, — ■ 
the circle again convened, composed of the same parties as on the previous evening. Many 
of the performances of the two previous evenmgs were repeated at the commencement of 



442 HISTORY OF MODERN 

the sittin"-. The guitar was taken away, as beore, and, on searching diligently in the 
room, the hall, outside of the house, and on the verandah, it could not be found. The 
search was then given up. While still wondering where it would finally be discovered, an 
infant was heard crying up-stairs ; a sei-vant was called and sent up to the child. On ar- 
riving at the top of the stairs, the servant stumbled- over some object in the passage. She 
immediately cried out, ' Here is the guitar ! ' It was then proposed to leave the guitai 
where it was found, return, reforn*i the circle, and ask the spirits to return the guitar, as 
they had done on the night before. 

"They consented; but it was agreed that, meantime, other manifestations should take 
place. 

" A drum was procured from an adjoining room, and it was then asked if some spirit 
friend of Mrs. Tracy was present, who could rap out his name, by means of the alphabet, 
on the drum. The answer was, ' Yes;' and, the alphabet being called, the name of Thomas 
Miller was spelled out. Mrs. Tracy informed the circle that this was {;he name of a dear 
friend, with whom she was acquainted in her younger days, and that he had died at a mili- 
tary school in the State of Maryland. 

" The spirits were again requested to bring the guitar back into the room, answering 
' Yes. ' According to their instructions, the lights were then extinguished, and, while Mrs. 
Frisbie was seated at the piano, the whizzing noise was heard again, when Mrs. Frisbie 
being very much excited, groped her way towards the sofa, where her husband was seated ; 
but, before she could reach him, the guitar came in contact with her dress. She, somewhat 
frightened, endeavored to escape from it, but it followed her, and she exclaimed, ' Strike a 
light ; the guitar is stepping after me ! ' 

" The lights were immediately produced, when the guitar was seen to be gently falling 
away from her person toward the floor, which it reached without producing the slightest 
noise. The circle had now made up their minds to adjom-n, when Uladislan Vallejo 
observed that there was something like a piece of paper sticking under the strings of the 
guitar. 

" On examination it was found to be a visiting card which had for some time been stuck 
in the corner of a looking-glass frame, in the room where the circle sat, and it had not been 
noticed by any one that it was removed. On closer inspection the following words, written 
with a pencil, were found upon it ; ' I am the spirit of Thomas Miller who writes this com- 
munication ; George Butler is a writing medium.' 

" The next puzzle was to ascertain how and when it was written. On comparing it with 
the handwriting of Butler, it was found to resemble it precisely. Mr. Butler strenuously 
denied all knowledge of this communication, but on inquiring of the spirit about it, we 
were informed that he had wiutten it through Butler's hand, having previously made him 
unconscious for that purpose, while the circle were waiting the return of the guitar. 

"It is well to remark here, that young Butler had not been, previous to this event, 
aware of his mediumship. To test the reality of this mysterious discovery, it was asked if 
the spirit would now write more communications in the same way. This was assented to 
by the spirit. Paper and pencil were placed before the medium. The lights were extm- 
guished, and the spirit soon made an attempt to control the hand of Mr. Butler ; it 
appeared to him, and also to the others who heard the sound of the pencil, that the spirit 
was endeavoring to draw lines across the paper. Mr. Butler, becoming annoyed, threw 
down the pencil, saying, ' I don't like this business. ' But immeditaely the circle was made 
aware, by a rustling of the paper, that it was carried upward toward the ceiling, and on 
groping for the pencil on the table, it was discovered that it had also disappeared. 

"The spirit rapped out that the circle should patiently await the return of the expected 
spirit message for a few minutes. Meanwhile, raps were heai'd, as if made by the pencil 
on the lid of the piano, on the looking-glass, and other objects. After a few minutes, as 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 443 

predicted, the paper was heard descending from the ceiling with the same rustling noise as 
when it was carried off. The pencil apparently fell from the ceiling also, and struck upon 
the table. Lights were produced instantly, and, to the astonishment of all, a different 
sheet of paper from that which had been taken away, was found upon the table; the spirit 
having chosen to appropriate, from a- portfolio on the centre-table, a smaller sized sheet, 
which bears a vignette representing the residence and adjoining grounds of General Val. 
lejo, within which the circle were then sitting. 

" The first sheet offered for the use of the spu-it was not ruled, whereas the latter was. 
A communication, written in a neat style of penmanship, strictly upon the ruled lines of 
the paper, was discovered, and was read aloud to the circle by Dr. Van Geldern. 

"The following is the communication referred to, omitting a sentence of an exclusively 
personal nature. 

" ' All hail ! ye inhabitants of the rudimental sj^here; a new era da^vns upon the world ; 
the spirits of the departed will not only take cognizance of the affairs of this mundane 
world, but will, hereafter, through their sif^erior cultivation and more developed powers, 
exalt and ennoble the whole race of man. Thrice blessed is the present generation, for 
they shall witness the amelioration of all human maladies, and the introduction of a sys- 
tem of philosophy and religion in complete harmony with the designs and attributes of 
Deity. False theories and pernicious practices shall give way to an enlightened system and 
consistent method. 

" ' Diseases shall no longer be the opprobria medico7-um. Its ravages shall be stayed; 
human life shall be greatly prolonged, and man's happiness tenfold advanced.' 

" ' Thomas Miller.' " 

Let it be remembered that General Vallejo, in whose house the above 
manifestations, and many others of similar character, transpired, was, and is, 
one of the oldest and most respected inhabitants of the State. His wealth, 
age, position, and noble character, forbid the possibility of attaching a shadow 
of suspicion to his name ; and yet for years he pursued similar investigations 
to the above, under his own roof, until his faith, and that of his family, be- 
came as fixed in the belief, as the everlasting hills of his own California. 

The writer of the above, Mr. Thomas Miller, Dr. Van Geldern, Dr. and 
Mrs. Frisbie, Mr. Butler, Mrs. Tracy, and all the other members of this re- 
markable circle, are persons of marked distinction and honor in the State, 
but these were but the rudimental experiences of California SpirituaUsm. 



CHAPTER XLIL 

SPIRITUALISM IN CALIFORNIA. 

"Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! 
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned ? 

\ Thou com'st in such a questionable shape 

That I win speak to thee." 

Hamlet : — Shaks^eare, 

The Authority Offered — California Sketches — The Russian Hill Circles 
— Kanaka Spirits — The Spirits on Telegraph Hill — The Blood Mark — 
Mr. J. y. Mansfield — "The Far West." 

We now proceed to notice some of those more startling and almost in- 
credible phases of California Spirituahsni to wloich allusion has been made in 



444 HISTORY OF MODERN 

the preceding cliapter. The authority on which these records are given, 
together with the impression they produced at the time of their occurrence, 
will be best understood by citing intact the original papers written by the 
author for A. J. Davis's He7'ald of Progress, entitled, " California Sketches." 
Some of the spiritualistic details are necessarily mixed with personal experi- 
ences, but even at the risk of incurring the charge of egotism, we shall quote 
the sketches as they stand, for the sake of preserving the integrity and spirit 
of the narratives. 

It is only necessary to add that Mr. A. J. Davis, himself the most exact and 
reliable of editors, v/as furnished with the full names and addresses of all the 
parties referred to by initials, and that, previous to the publication of the 
sketches, ample means were afforded to him of verifying every statement they 
contained. 

In respect to the motive which induced the author to withhold these names, 
although their identity is perfectly well known in California, it is proper to say 
that all the gentlemen concerned are holding public offices of trust and dis- 
tinction, and consider that "to be again dragged before the public," in narra- 
tives of their too notorious and frightful experiences, would be repulsive to their 
feelings and injurious to their public usefulness. 

Relying on the already well-attested character of the facts, then, it only re- 
mains to repeat that these gentlemen are all known, and when their expe- 
riences were first related in the True Californiaji, their names were suppressed 
simply as a matter of etiquette. 

The accounts were written by a distinguished lawyer, Avho was a member of 
the circles, but he, as well as all the parties concerned, were well acquainted 
with the editor of the True Californian, who pledged his faith to the public 
for the authenticity of the statements he published : 

"CALIFORNIA SKETCHES — BY EMMA HARDINGE. 

"Ere offering the following statements to the readers of the Herald, I desire to give a 
few words of introduction. I have copied them, almost verbatim, from a file of the True 
Californian of the date of 1856, but the entire details of the transactions, together with a 
vast amount of still stranger phenomena, unpublished, I have myself received from the lips 
of the witnesses. With this article, I inclose to Mr. Davis a private memorandum of the 
names of the parties mentioned in initial letters in the narrative, with the permission to shov/ 
these to persons acquainted in California, or lilcely to become so ; in addition to which, I am 
permitted to say that Joseph Atkinson, Esq., well known in this city of San Francisco, as 
for some years past proprietor and superintendent of Lone Mountain Cemetery, is not only 
fully cognizant of all the facts, and personally acquainted with all the parties concerned, but 
is willing to ansv/er in person all inquiries, and furnish names, references, and details in con- 
nection with the affair, to any one interested enough to write or call upon him. I am in- 
formed by eye-witnesses of similar manifestations in other parts of the State, also, that the 
two mediums, Mrs. X. and her daughter, could produce this phenomena in all its force and 
variety, without the presence of the other members of the San Francisco circle. 

" Both these ladies have now passed to the spirit-world, and the excessive annoyance ex- 
perienced by Mr. J. P., in his household, — the breaking of china and furniture, together, 
with, as it appears to me, his entire indifference on the subject of Spiritualism, except as a 
curious and unexplained scientific problem, — render him imwilling to comply with mj^ re- 
quest to try and optain a repetition of the curious phenomena in fresh circles. 

" I have only to add that the entire history is vouched for, by the irreproachable charac- 
ers and positions of the parties concerned. It was on this score that the records found ad- 
mission to the columns of one of the most respectable journals in California. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 445 

"For this cause I send it for republication in the Herald of Progress, and hold myself 
responsible for communicating only what stands as well-attested and honorably verified, as 
it is possible for any facts to be, that only occur in the presence of a few witnesses. I send 
herewith an account of the first published seance, and in my next will copy the two follow- 
ing papers. 



"San Francisco, Cal., March 24, 1S64." 



" Emma Hardinge. 



"MIDNIGHT DISCLOSURES. 
\_Copied from, the True Californian of Oct. 3, 1856.] 

NIGHT FIRST. 

*^ Editors of the True Californian : 

"On Friday evening last, Mr. B. and myself called at the residence of Mr. J. P., of this 
city, for the purpose of witnessing some of the extraordinary phenomena that had been re- 
ported as occurring in that gentleman's house for the past three months, and which it was 
hoped might be repeated in our presence. I had visited Mr. J. P. on several previous oc- 
casions in the hope of gratifying my curiosity by a sight of the reported marvels, and found 
the facts far exceeding anything I had expected. On this occasion, therefore, my principal 
motive for the visit was far less for my own gratification than that of Mr. B. , my com- 
panion, whose presence, appearance, and witness, I was most desirous so obtain in circum- 
tances which I found baffling all my efforts to explain, except upon a supernatural 
hypothesis. 

"Before entering upon a detailed accomit of the seance, it may be of some interest to 
future investigators to give a brief physiological description of the persons through whose 
mediumship thedemonstrations in question seemed to be produced. As this sketch is designed 
to assist the researches of those truly philosophical minds that desire to connect cause with 
effect in tliese new and at present unexjDlained phenomena, 1 am certain such a description v,-ill 
be found to possess much significance. 

"If we except myself and my friend B., — who in the first manifestation had of course 
no share, — the household at the scene of these occurrences consisted of Mr. J. P. and 
his lady, her sister and the latter' s daughter; the whole four of whom I believe to have 
been peculiaidy adapted for the production of what I am about to relate. 

"Mr. J. P. is a gentleman of remarkably fine physique, built on the largest, strongest, 
and most healthful model, weighing, I should thuik, over two hundred and thirty pounds, with 
a strong, finely modelled head, light hair, sanguine complexion, and strongly magnetic tem- 
perament. Hispositioninthecityisthatofalawyerofgreat eminence; but he isalso known as 
a man of very scientific attainments, deep research, and remarkable for his proficiency in chem- 
ical, astronomical, and mathematical sciences. Tlie fact that he is engaged in framing cer- 
tain well-known mathematical tables for public use [a circumstance merely alluded to for the 
purposes of identification] will illustrate the true bearing of his mind, and prove there is no 
credulous or incapable person to vouch for the wonders I am about to relate. 

"I have only to add that his age is about forty, his eye the keen and peculiar gi"ay that 
generally accompanies sandy hair, and that a more composed, immobile, resolute, and cour- 
ageous person, it has never before been my lot to encounter. 

"My friend B., well-known among Californian merchants as a steady practical man, is 
moreover devoted to higlily scientific pursuits ; but it is chiefly because he stands almost 
unrivalled amongst us for his keen laaowledge of human nature, and shrewd power of 
analysis, that I desired he should be an observer of these marvels, convinced that any im- 
posture that could escape his detective eye, must be a little more than mortal jugglery. 
Mrs. J. P. is a lady in about the prime of life, of an apparently passive temperament, 
amiable, well educated, and very lady-like; seemingly healthful, with fair hair and light 
eyes. 



44^ HISTORY OF MODERN 

" Her sister, Mrs. X., appeared to me to be a lady older in years, but of a similiar tem- 
perament. Miss X., the daughter of the last-named lady a fair and excitable young lady, 
completed our party. " 

I believe the two last named of the party had recently arrived from the 
Sandwich Islands. I received this information from Mr. J. P. himself, who 
considered it possible that a long residence there might have in some degree 
attracted the "Kanaka" spirits, who are subsequently described in the nar- 
ative. — Author. 

"At eight o'clock, p.m., we arrived, by appointment, at the residence of Mr. J. P., situ- 
ated on Russian Hill, one of those towering eminences overlooking the v/hole city, bay, 
and "Golden Gate," and besides commanding the most extensive view in the vicinage, 
peculiarly charged with what the magnetizers would call a ' strong magnetic influence" 
from the rarity of the atmosphere in such an elevated site. 

" We were shown into the library, where our host, imwillingtolose a moment from liter- 
ary employment, still toiled in the midst of law papers, globes, quadrants, mathematical 
instruments, and charts. 

"Abstracting himself from his studies and summoning the ladies to the apartment, we 
arranged ourselves in the usual faShion around the table, with the exception of my friend B., 
who, armed with determined scepticism and resolution to place himself in the most available 
position for observation, declined to join us, and sat aloof as sentinel on the party. I mus 
add that my friend, being very soon satisfied after a short period of observation, that liis 
scruples were not of much account there, subsequently joined the circle. 

" Our hands were as usual laid flat upon the table. Soon after taking our places mani- 
festations of an ordinary character commenced, such as raising the table several inches from 
the gi'ound, where it floated in the air as lightly as a cork. Meantime loud raps continued- 
to sound on the table, floor, walls, and every part of the room, without intermission, through- 
out the seance. 

"For about an hour we retained the solar lamp in the room. After that we removed it, 
leaving its glare still visible in addition to the light of the room which shone in full and 
brightly through the windows, the curtains of which were thrown back. No sooner had 
the lamp been removed than it seemed as if every object in the room was in motion ; chairs, 
sofas, tables, and heavy pieces of furniture, with marble tops. Cushions, books, and every 
light article in the room was hurled hither and thither as if endowed with life. Every- 
thing in and about the room was in rapid and incessant motion ; the whole atmosphere was 
full of flying objects. Every one present was pinched, pulled, slapped by hands ; their 
hair pulled or stroked, their eyelids touched ; themselves and their chairs dragged around 
with immense force, and often in various directions, at our own requests. 

" During this scene, except when dodging to avoid the flying missiles, or moved hither 
and thither by the spirits, at my own earnest request, we all kept our seats and joined hands. 
We were none of us in a rank of life, or in such relations to each other as to entertain the 
smallest doubt of any one present. Yet our actions, or the slightest movement, was plainly 
visible to all ; and no human being in that room and in their senses, could question that the 
origin of the riot around us was made by strong and intelligent, though invisible beings. 
Still, as I had determined to myself to observe, and record what I observed for posterity, I 
requested that even our positions as we sat should bear witness for us ; hence it was, and 
hence alone, that I solicited that our hands should be all joined, and our position immovably 
fixed, as far as v/e could command them, in the midst of the flying furniture and incessant 
uproar that was proceeding on every side ; meantime tremendous raps were thundering 
around us, voices were heard whispering, or calling our names ; shrill whistlings were in- 
terspersed with the hubbub, and the strings of a guitar which had been laid on the table were 
snapping and vibrating before our eyes with a force that threatened to tear them to pieces. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 447 

"During this time, too, we conversed frequently with our invisible guests through the 
alphabet and raps ; and at our request they would vary the sounds, drumming on the walls, 
ceiling, floor, etc., and responding to all our mental questions even in this pandemonium, 
or performing our mental requests almost instantaneously. A book was thro\vn at one of 
the ladies, striking her severely on the head. Mr. B. picked it up and placed it by his side 
on the table. In an instant it was snatched up, and as quickly replaced, with evidently a 
leaf turned down. Mr. J. P. arose, brought in the light, and examined the folded leaf, 
when he discovered, close to the corner turned down, these words : ' Can ye not discern the 
sigiis of the times ? ' The book was a history of Central America, and we all believe this 
is the only quotation from the Bible in its pages. Mr. J. P. then inquired by raps whose 
spirit it was that thus manifested, when it was answered it was Mr. King, a well-known 
friend of nearly every one present, and the martyr patriot who was murdered by Casey. 
Then followed these questions and answers by Mr. J. P. : 

" Q. Have you any message for us ? 

"A. None. 

" Q. Did you appear to my family a few evenmgs since in the material form ? 

"A. I did." 

Here let me state the account which Mr. J. P. and all his family gave of 
this apparition, Mr. J. P. repeating the narrative several times to insure its 
accuracy. 

He stated that, on a recent occasion, when the whole family were assembled 
in the library, their attention was drawn toward the conservatory at the end 
of the room by the shaking of some large plants. 

On looking towards the place, they all perceived the figure of Mr. King, 
plainly apparent, precisely as in life, and in his usual attire. The figure was 
dense, and presented nothing of the usual shadowy appearance of such appari- 
tions. He stood quite still, until Mr. J. P. addressed him ; when, at the 
request of this cool observer, he raised first one arm and then the other ; 
moved to the side, advanced, and retreated, turned his head, bowed, and 
in fact, for several minutes continued to obey every motion suggested. 
All at once Mr. P. made a sudden dart forward, a movement for which he 
had been some time preparing, intending, as he expressed it, to "grab 
him ; " but, on the instant, every article in the house seemed to be set in 
motion at once, as if by the sliock of an earthquake. The figure " melted 
out" instantly. Eveiy piece of furniture in the two rooms was tlirown or 
rolled out of its place, several panes of glass w.ere broken as if by an explo- 
sion, and cushions were dashed v/ith blinding dust and force into the faces of 
every one in the library. — Author. 

We return to the description from the True Californian, and resume the 
questioning of Mr. J. P., which was as follows : 

" Q. Mr. King, can you appear to-night ? 

"A. I will. 

" Q. How long first ? 

" A. In fifteen minutes. 

" Q. What signal will you give? 

"A. I will ring the door-bell. 

" We waited for about six minutes only, when the door-bell was rung very violently and 
an attempt was apparently made to enter at the door. This was partly made of glass, and 
opened from the piazza. The noise of the door and glass rattling was very violent, and 
sounded strange and ghastly in the silence and semi-darkness of our circle. Mrs. X.' 
mother, children, and servants, v/ere awakened by the noise, and the fierce house dogs, ot 



448 HISTORY OF MODERJsT 

whom Mr. J. P. had provided several smce these manifestations commenced, began baying 
ferociously. 

' ' Mr. J. P. immediately rose, and in his calm collected way carefully traversed the Mhole 
length of the house, and the piazza all around. Not a creature in the mortal form could be 
concealed in the gi'ound undetected by the fierce dogs, who were set loose to prevent the 
possible tricks of strangers ; besides the full moon lighted up the room within and without, 
and from the moment when the bell rung, every eye was fixed upon the glass door, and even 
whilst it was most violently shaken, we all knew, for all saw, that not a creature Was visible 
near it. We then resumed our circle, and inquired through the raps, v/ho was now present. 
' Capitana ' was the name spelled out, and recognized by Mrs. X. as an old Kanaka 
woman, who was known to them and had died several years before. 

" Mr. J. P. asked if she would appear to-night as she had on former occasions ; she an- 
swered in the affirmative, and promised to ring the door-bell as the signal of her approach. 
It was scarcely twenty seconds after the raps had ended spelling out this message, when the 
bell again rang furiously, and at the same moment a bush, growing within a few feet of the 
window, was shaken so violently as to fix all our attention upon it in the fear that it would 
be torn up by the roots. Then we [having our attention fixed upon the bush] distinctly, 
and all together, saw a gigantic human figure apparently rising and emerging from the bush, 
issue out into the broad moonlight, pass within two feet of the window before our eyes, 
and glide off towards the kitchen. By a common impulse we all rose and rushed to the 
window, but only in time to see that figure melt out, and another rise up as it were, out of 
the gi-ound, and immediately seat itself upon a bench before the kitchen door, and fuU in 
the glare of the broad moonlight. 

"And here I would fain pause, for I have no words adequate to describe what I then 
saw ; and though its memory will be foi'ever engraven upon my brain, I can neither commu- 
nicate in words the least reality of it, nor yet attempt its description, without subjecting 
myself to the chax-ge of the wildest exaggeration. I can only add, I am now writing for 
the philosopher and those who, I cannot doubt, will in futurity realize similar manifestations, 
and the clue to them ; hence, for the sake of science, and that supreme truth which will 
some day vindicate and prove itself, I will attempt a verbal description of this appalling 
apparition. 

" It certainly bore the human form, though in distorted and frightful disproportion. 

"It was of gigantic height and frightfully lean. Its face was hideously long, thin, and 
distorted ; blacker than any idea of blackness I ever had before; but its expression I never 
can portray. I can only say it was an appalling mixture of rage, hate, and despair, so 
shocking that I cannot at any time attempt to recall it without a sickening sensation of 
horror. 

"It was horrible to look at, horrible to think of, and I hope my mortal eyes will never 
again be blighted with so hideous a spectacle ; and yet I looked, and we all looked, -wath a 
fixed fascination I cannot describe, though I confess then, and still feel now, as if I would 
have given much never to have seen it. * The noise of the ringing bell had again disturbed 
the mother and younger children of Mrs. X. , who were occupying the chamber above us.' 

"Attracted to the window, as they had often been to witness similar phenomena, they 
looked and saw, exactly as we did, the ghastly apparition below ; unable to retreat, yet 
scarcely able to endure the sight, they stood, as they afterwards described, awe-struck and 
spelL-bound by the shocking spectre. ' Pie wore a large white robe thro^^m fully around him 
and partly covering his immensely long lean head ; and there he sat, reclining on the bench, 
full in the moonlight, silent, still, and ghastly, in all his appalling ugliness. The face was 
turne 1 to us somewhat in profile. 

* Tie -HT-iter of this narrative was, in 1863, an eminent lawyer in Nevada Territory. There the author met 
with h.m, and Mr. B., then a banker, holding the highest social position in the territory', and gready re- 
spected for his scientific attainments and intellectual research. Neither of these gentlemen could speak of 
this apparition, as they frequentlj' did at the author's request, without an emotion painful to behold, and, as 
they alleged, " unmanlj'," but strongly indicative, to a candid observer, of the terrulc character of vvdiat they had 
witnessed. 



\ 

AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 449 

**For myself, I confess the time came when I could bear this scene no longer. After 
looking on the goblin — for human I can never think it — till the sight overpowered me, I 
rushed to the piazza door, feeling the necessity for air. 

' ' I was followed by the ladies, who were almost fainting ; but on attempting to unfasten 
the 'j jor, which Mr. J. P. had opened with perfect ease but a few moments before, we 
found it barricaded. Mr. B., the bravest amongst us save Mr. J. P., remained, watching 
the goblin, as did the family up stairs, until they saw it gradually and slowly melt out. 
They never lost sight of it until its disappearance. As we retreated, the sofas, chairs, tables, 
cushions, globes, and mathematical instruments, were Imrled about in every direction with 
great violence. I was severely struck with a book, and one of the ladies had a cushion 
dashed in her face, the dust from which blinded her eyes for several minutes. 

" Mr. J. P. and his wife now joined me at the door, and after gi^eat exertion we suc- 
ceeded in forcing it partly open, when we found that the heavy iron gate at the entrance 
of the grounds had been literally torn up out of its sockets, and placed bodily against 
the piazza door. This must have been done in a few minutes, since one of the servants had 
just passed through and fastened it. It must have been accomplished without noise, though 
it would have taken several men to achieve such a feat, and we had sat opposite to it, with the 
moon sliining full on it, the whole period of the circle ; hence human agency in such a work 
was simply impossible. 

" We then followed Mr. J. P., who, by the way, was the only one of our party that re- 
tained any presence of mind, through the house to the kitchen, where we hoped to confront 
the apparition which we had last seen, as described, on the bench outside of it. Arrived there 
in tumultuous haste all was over. The bench was empty, and not a trace remained of our 
ghastly visitor. 

" Fortunately, ]\Ir. B. and Mrs. X.'s mother and children had never quitted their posts 
of observation, and each described in an exactly similar manner the mode of the spectre's 
disappearance. Mr. B. stood within eight feet of it, and, just as we approached the kitchen- 
door, he saw, as did those above, the creature rise with slow deliberation, standing a min- 
ute still, as if to display its enormous height, then, lightly lifting its robe, it seemed to float 
off a little way, and then instantly, in the clear space, become invisible. There were four 
witnesses of this scene, and each gave a precisely similar account when questioned separately. 
At length we returned to the library, and, after some time spent in attempting to regain 
our composure, we resumed our sitting ; but I was so shocked at what I had lately witnessed, 
that I protested against resuming the seance, unless the whole circle pledged themselves 
that no effort should be made to summon back our frightful visitor. 

' ' We all agreed to bend our minds and aspirations on the attempt to call around us 
kind, genial, and more human beings, and conjured some bright and happy spirits- to visit 
us, and aid in dispelling the horrors of the last apparition. 

" We had not taken our places five minutes before, ner\'0us and distrustful as we still 
were, we were convinced our petitions were answered. Cool, balmy breezes played around 
us ; soft, caressing hands stroked our cheeks and heads ; more than a dozen small, white, 
human hands gleamed about the room, at first shado-vvy and like thin vapor, at last palpable, 
opaque, and seemingly as firm in sight and touch as our own hands. Mr. J. P. had been 
suffering all day from toothache, and several of those soft hands were seen and felt tenderly 
stroking his face. In a short time he exclaimed that the pain was entirely gone, when the 
soft touches were withdra\vn, after which we were admonished, by raps, to break up our 
circle, which, at about half-past one o' clock, we most reluctantly consented to do. 

*' Kind good-nights were spelled out by the spirits, and we all departed. 

" I have no explanation to give of the above scene, but many vouchers to present for its 
veracity. First, I offer my own position in this city [San Francisco], for which, as the edi- 
tor of this paper will attest, I rely solely on my honorable name and my reputation for 
strict veracity and calm common sense. 

" Next, the whole of the persons concerned in this wonderful seance are persons living 
amongst you, and beyond the suspicion or possibility of collusion or deception. Every 
29 



450 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

reader of this article, when published in the Trtie Californiaii, knows them ; and though 
their names are withheld, their histories and relation to these marvels are the town talk. 
Their identity, then, is not uncertain, and who amongst the community can question, suspect, 
or doubt them ? 

" No public exhibition of these marvels ever has or ever will be permitted, although their 
report is, as every reader knows, noised abroad far and wide ; yet without the least chance 
of any but his invited guests investigating this phenomena, I never yet heard the shadow of 
doubt or suspicion cast on Mr. J. P.'s name in connection with them. There are some 
persons who are their ovrsx vouchers for what they assert ; such is the case with all the parties 
concerned in the present instance. 

"I can only add I have obtained the permission of the proprietor of the house to make 
my statements public, although he is perfectly indifferent as to their reception by the world. 

" He neither invites investigation nor permits any discussion on the subject. He makes 
no assertions — allows of no charges. ' It is his business and no one else's. ' To his friends 
he acknowledges it is simply a 'curious unsolved scientific problem.' Tome it is the foun- 
dation stone upon which future generations wiU, as I believe, erect the temple of a new and 
wonderful science ; and therefore I feel impelled to leave this unsought record for the benefit 
of posterity, to whom it will be enough that I relate truths kindred to their experiences, 
though they may only remember me as 

"Faustus." 

"MIDNIGHT DISCLOSURES. 

\Copied frotn the True Californian, Sunday, October 12, 1856.] 

NIGHT SECOND. 
"Editors True Californian: 

"The extraordinary character of the phenomena witnessed by myself and my friend B. 
at our last sitting, did not tend to diminish the mterest we felt on the subject, and awak- 
ened considerable anxiety as to the result of our next interview with the spirits. This was 
appointed to come off on Sunday night, October 12, on which occasion we repaii-ed, at the 
appointed hour, to the place of meeting, which, as before, was at the house of Mr. J. P., at 
eight o'clock, P.M. 

" Myself and B. had had many earnest conversations on the subject, in the interim between 
the seances, and both had separately compared notes with tlie other members of the cuxle ; 
and as aU our opinions, memories, and reiterations were perfectly coincident, we had not 
even the Iiope that any of us had been the victims of individual hallucinations. 

•' The weather, on the occasion of this, our second visit, was very unpleasant. A cold west 
wind blew a hiu-ricane, and rendered our attempt to gain the summit of the high eminence 
on which the house of mystery was situated, namely, Russian Hill, no very light feat of 
pedestriaiiism. Wondering as we went, v/hy so many spiritual manifestations should so 
commonly take place on hills and earth's high places, in point of locality, we at last gained, 
the giddy Jieights, and, as before, found ourselves comfortably ensconced in Mr. J. P.'s lit- 
erary .'tnd pleasant sanctum. 

" Soor. after our entrance, the ladies joined us, when we proceeded to seat ourselves in 
position around the table. Ei-e the business of the circle commenced, our party was joined 
by Mr. C, who had, like ourselves, braved the storm and wind without, to witness for him- 
self what a bare report of had awakened in his mind the most intense curiosity. 

" Being a highly respected literary friend of all present, he was greeted with a Avarm wel- 
come, and immediately joined our circle. 

"For the first half-hour the manifestations, although strong and interesting, were not 
miusual in rapping and physical force circles. We conversed pleasantly with the invisibles 
by raps, and the incessant movements of tlie furniture; at length tlie Kanaka spirits .vei^e 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 451 

annovinced, who had often before claimed to produce the most remarkable of the phenom- 
e^a. At first the spirits seemed bent on exercising the credulity of our friend C, whose 
first appearance at these circles seemed to attract them to play him some rather striking 
tricks. They introduced a hand into the coat pocket of Mr. B., a banker, and di-awing 
from thence a large iron safe-key, exhibited it in the air. 

"•They next took Mr. B.' swatch from his neck, and suspended it by the ribbon roimd 
the neck of Mr. J. P. Several things were taken from our pocke'.s and thrown on the 
table. We were all repeatedly struck by small missiles. One of these struck my eye, caus- 
ing the tears to start. As all our hands were firmly joined in the circle, sooner than unlock 
them, I asked the spirits to wipe my eye. 

"Instantly my pocket-handkerchief was dra^vn out, and I felt several hands, not merely 
wiping my eye, but tenderly caressing it, until the pain was entirely gone. 

" After an hour or so, we were notified, as usual, in answer to our request that the spirits 
would appear visibly and give the signal by the ringing of the gixat door-bell. 

"It seemed they had waited thus long for the moon to rise, and, as the wind had subsided, 
the night was fine and very clear. 

" Suddenly our friend B. broke the circle, and springing forward to the \rardow, directed 
our attention to the yard, which was now almost as light as day, and there we beheld, 
standing outside the window, and full m the moon's rays, what seemed to be a girl of about 
ten or twelve years- old. She was in a slightly stooping attitude, and flitted several times 
back and forth before the window, as if to convince us she was real, and wished to give us 
notice she was there for our gi-atification. Presently the girl approached the window, and 
even came within six feet of us, when Mrs. J. P. , unable, as it seemed, to endure the close 
proximity of the supernatural visitant, uttered an involuntary scream. 

"It seemed as if the girl heard it, for she instantly flitted ofl" in the direction of the 
kitchen. We all followed her movements with our eyes, and distinctly beheld her disappear 
as if she had melted out. Immediately, in the place she had occupied, appeared another 
figure, seemingly that of a man, but it was gigantic in height, very thin and extremely 
shadowy. It made toward the wall of the house and seemed to pass through it. Soon after 
it reappeared, apparently half within and half without the wall, and as if to give us the full 
view of this feat, the figure repeated it several times, now melting into the wall, now coming 
half way out of it ; retreating, stepping off from it, and then re-entering the solid bricks with 
its shadowy substance again, until it finally melted. And here I must confess that the excite- 
ment produced on the whole party by these figures was so gi"eat, that we found it impossible 
to reorganize our circle for any similar phenomena the rest of the night. To beguile our 
minds from the memory of these apparitions, Mr. J. P. related tlie singular experiences the 
family had had with the Kanaka spirits, whistling to them, and, at his suggestion, I gave a 
loud whistle, and asked if some spirit would try to imitate it. Instantly a voice repeated 
my whistle, in a manner so exact that it might have been mistaken for an echo, but for a 
whole chorus of whistles that began to tune up, and for several minutes produced shrill and 
varied whistling from every imaginable direction ; now in the yard, then in the kitchen ; 
again in the distant road, and now immediately in our ears, literally piercing them v/ith 
their shrill tone. A few minutes after the soimds changed to whisperings and mutterings, 
in which several names, especially my friend B.'s, were pronounced. The difference in these 
voices to the tones of human beings, was their high shrillness, and the resemblar.ee to the 
effort of persons who whistled forth names instead of speaking them. 

"The concluding experiment of the evening was on B., who had several times been 
tumbled from his chair, but now in so sudden a manner that the thing was done ere we 
perceived the least movement. He was seized by the coat, and hurled forward several 
yards in the room. He distinctly felt himself lifted by hands. He was thrown with a 
velocity that would have killed him had he not been lifted ; but though throwm so far and 
the thing being done so quickly, it was evident he was carried, not thrown, and dropped so 
lightly that he did not sustain any other inconvenience than that of breaking upon our 
astor.ished eyes in a most undignified heap, in a remote comer of the room, when a second 



452 HIS TOR Y OF MODERN' 

before he was quietly sitting in his chair amongst us. Here closed the principal evtnts of 
this night, and I shall only relate to you one more chapter in this extraordinary episode 
ere I close my narrative of experiences with ghosts and supernaturalism. 

"NIGHT THIRD, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1836. 

"At eight o'clock precisely, myself and former companion, Mr. B. , again stood in thft 
mystic library of our Russian Hill savan, hoping to behold a renewal of the wonders we 
had already participated in, with ever-increasing interest. We had no sooner entered tlie 
room, however, when Mr. J. P. warned us we must be disappointed this time, as two of the 
ladies, namely, Mrs. X. and her daughter, had departed ; and we all had realized that tlie 
chief of the medium power of our weird circles proceeded from these ladies. 

"He added that his wife was sick, but, unwilling that we should have our steep walk 
wholly in vain, she had consented to descend, and sit with us, in the hope that even this 
part of our diminished batter)' might be fruitful of some spiritual results. For some time 
we sat without any manifestations rewarding our patience ; after the lapse of at least an 
hour, the raps, creaking, and movements commenced, and we began to question the spirits 
in the usual way, by the alphabet. The intelligence rendered this time, however, was vague 
and unsatisfactory. The spirits claimed to be busy warding off the approaches of evil 
spirits, one of whom we had seen on the first night of our sitting ; the batteiy was too 
weak to accomplish much, they said ; but presently, after a considerable amount of noise 
had been heard in and about the book-case, a large roll of maps that was lodged near it 
was removed and thro-wn violently into the centre of the room. 

" We then removed the lamp into the piazza, so that it could shine full into the room. 
The phenomena immediately became much stronger : a pair of globes set off travelling ; 
one rolled into the room, from a distant recess, launched itself against the window, and 
dashed the lower pane into pieces. Similar phenomena occurred with many pieces of furni- 
ture through the room. 

* ' We then inquired if we could not see the spirits this night also ; were answered in the 
affirmative, and promised a signal by the ringmg of the bell at the street door. 

"In a few minutes the signal came. The bell was rung violently, the bush outside the 
window rudely shaken, and once again the young girl appeared. 

"This time, however, she melted out, almost immediately; where she had stood, how- 
ever, a light appeared, at first a mere glimmer, but in a few seconds g:"owing larger and 
brighter, until it assumed the form and size of a large globe lantern. 

" It seemed to be wavy, and cast no shadow on the dark gi-ound. It approached and re- 
ceded from the window several times ; at last it stretched out from a globe into other shapes, 
and after changing rapidly uito a gi^eat many singular forms, it assumed the exact shape of a 
long grave, about six feet in length, and close to the gi-ound. 

" We all remarked the total absence of any reflection, although the light was brilliant, but 
pale, and strongly resembling phosphorus. 

" Presently the bunch resembling a mound or grave melted and stretched out into a thin 
long line of light, ran along the ground, and disappeared. 

" We returned to our places at the table, but although we joined hands and waited with 
praiseworthy patience, no farther phenomena were vouchsafed us that night, at least within 
the ring of our charmed circle. Outside it, the spirits were not idle, for they presently gave 
evidence of their activity and strength, by forcibly dragging Mr. J. P.'s poor 'darkey' 
from his bed, and, in the primitive coverings of the night toilet, dashing him into the passage 
outside the circle door. Hearing the heavy fall, we rushed to the door, and there found our 
poor sable friend with a severe contusion of the eye, and a violent bump on the cheek, pro- 
duced by the blows he had received. 

" Whether from malice or mischief we were enable to ascertain, but Mr. J. P. in- 
formed us, with much sympathy for his poor servant, but yet more merriment at the remem- 
brance of his ludicrous adventures, that this poor man was a regular butt for the exercise of 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 453 

the spirits' fun and power ; that he had actually, at one time, been huiied through a French, 
window in presence of the family, and it was quite a common occurrence to see him thro^Mi 
hither and thither with the facility of an india-rubber ball. 

"And thus ended the seance of the night, and with it I close my detail of these remark, 
able phenomena. If I have related things that draw somewhat heavily on the credulity of 
my readers, I can only say the witnesses are your fellow-townsmen, and their word is received 
amongst you as truth on far more important subjects than this. 

" I have related some wonderful things, but kept far more unrecorded. 

"The half has not indeed yet been told; and an experience of several months with this 
family of marvels, far exceedmg those here set down, may be calculated on as affording 
food for the curious and marvel-seeker, of the most extraordinary character. Enough has 
been said, however, to stimulate inquiry, if the reader desires it, into similar phenomena. 

" Mediums exist in every family, and can, under ordinary circumstances, be readily de- 
veloped, when the facts above stated might fall into insignificance compared with what 
might grow out of careful, candid, and constant investigation. 

"Faustus." 

It would be in vain to reiterate the allegations of good faith with which 
these articles are crowded, and to which no additional testimony could or 
should add weight. We call attention to the closing words of the gentleman 
who writes under the cognomen of " Faustus," and reaffirm that marvels of a 
far more portentous and striking character than any above related, occurred 
at the residence of Mr. J. P., some of which became public property by being 
bruited abroad, Avhilst others made their own report to the crowds who nightly 
assembled on Russian Hill, to listen to the weird sounds from within the 
" haunted dwelling," until the proprietor was obliged to place a guard over his 
mansion in the shape of several fierce dogs and strong, courageous domestics. 

The manifestations continued during a period of many months ; long enough, 
as the worthy scientist, Mr. J. P., himself infonned the author, to destroy 
every pane of glass or breakable article in his house. 

Some of these feats of destruction the master of the mansion encouraged, 
he being far more curious to investigate this mystery as a " scientific problem," 
than interested either in its spirituality or the care of his property. One da)^, 
therefore, he coolly challenged the invisible power to break every thing they 
could lay hands on, and bring the wreck to him. Within seven minutes of 
the utterance of this rash defiance, upwards of fifty dollars' worth of splendid 
china and valuable cut-glass was suddenly, — from whence and where no eye 
could discern, — pitched at his feet in his own library, a total wreck. 

The departure from California, and subsequent death of the tAvo principal 
mediums, j\Irs. X. and her daughter, greatly mitigated the power and abun- 
dance of the manifestations, which at last, — when Mr. J. P. sternly forbade the 
holding of any more circles or the attempt to communicate with the unseen 
agents, — finally ceased altogether. 

Their memoiy and influence, however, cannot so easily pass away, and 
never will be forgotten by those who witnessed them, several of whom, in de- 
scribing them to the author, have spoken of their terrible accompaniments 
with blanched cheeks and bated breath. 

The next manifestations of a peculiarly Californian character to which we 
call attention is, like the preceding narrative, republished from the author's 
"California Sketches," every detail of which is known to and attested by 
many of the most respectable inhabitants of the State. 



454 HISTOR Y OF MODERN 

EXTRACTS FROM CALIFORNIA SKETCHES — BY EMMA HARD INGE. 

" To those unfamiliar with San Francisco, or to whom the remarkable manifestations 
about to be narrated are strange and apparently incredible, I beg to state that the chief of 
my narrative is supplied by four eye-witnesses of the facts, two of whom are ladies; my 
other informants being a highly respected member of the police force, and a well-known 
merchant of San Francisco, whose testimony alone would be considered authoritative ui 
any court of justice in the State. 

" About two years ago it was rumored that a family residing on the very summit of one 
of those towering hills that environ San Francisco, and constitute the principal site of its 
beautiful though almost inaccessible residences, had been, holding circles, and obtaining 
some very strong, though repulsive, manifestations. The father of the family, a respect 
able mechanic, had recently married a second wife, a woman of most amiable disposition, 
and excellent character, and amongst the family of the first wife, consisting of several 
daughters, it was found that two or three of them were mediums. The chief power of the 
manifestations, however, appeared to rest with the eldest daughter, a handsome girl of eigh- 
teen, about whom very scandalous reports had been unhappily rife among her neighbors. 
When the fact of strong spiritual manifestations occurring in this family became generally 
known, painfully suspicious circumstances were revived in connection with the young 
woman's deceased mother. It was affirmed that her spirit appeared in company with sev- 
eral others who had died violent deaths, and whose former residence in the same place as 
the medium now inhabited, had procured an evil name for that locality. Murder, suicide, 
and crimes of the most appalling nature had been, it was known, practiced in that vicinity, 
and though the actors in these dark tragedies, like the unfortunate mother of the girl, were 
now spirits, it was confidently affirmed that the manifestations complained of by the neigh- 
bors, rendering the place as terrible as it had formerly been notorious, proceeded from these 
unquiet spirits. The furniture of the possessed house was broken, and thrown about with 
wanton violence. Dreadful noises, mingled with cries, groans, and mocking laughter, were 
heaid. The dresses of the females were pinned together by unseen hands, or rent from 
them ; and, as the climax of the disturbances, the eldest girl was not only haunted by 
ghastly figinxs, whose shocking apparitions threw her into fainting fits, but these spectres, 
actually marked her dress, person, and face, with large spots of blood. This last phase of 
the phenomena was so frequent and terrible that the poor mother-in-law called upon some 
of the most respectable and prominent Spiritualists of the city, and solicited their advice 
and assistance, if possible, to exorcise the tormentors who beset the unhappy girl. 

"When my friends first visited this family, they found this persecuted girl, as might have 
been expected, in a highly nervous and excitable condition, deadly pale, and apparently suffer- 
ing from the effects of a severe illness, for which common report assigned the most scandal- 
ous origin. During the first spiritual seance held with this young person, my friends, Mrs. 
T. and Mrs. D., represent her as sitting apart, pale, depressed, and apparently uninterested 
in the proceedings of the rest of the party. 

" There were about a dozen persons present, and the hour for the seance had, at the re- 
quest of the ladies, been fixed at twelve, noon, objections of a cogent nature being urged 
to evening circles, when the manifestations became boisterous and unendurable. At first, 
only faint raps were heard in different parts of the room, but soon the young girl exhibited 
a mortal fear in her attitude and features, and shrank back as if from the approach of a 
frightful object. Instantly, and while every eye was fixed upon her, she sank back in her 
chair in a swoon, and there, in the broad glare of the sunlight, appeared on her face, which, 
the moment before, was perfectly white and colorless, a large patch of wet, reeking blood, 
one of her cheeks being marked exactly as if struck with a bloody hand. 

"On approaching the swooning figure, a second patch appeared on the other cheek; 
and as she stretched out her hand as if to ward off an invisible foe, another wet 
and reeking stain instantaneously became manifest on its palm. The ladies pres- 
ent procured a wash-bowl and removed the stains from the young woman's face and 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 455 

hand ; but though they replaced her in the chair, restored her to consciousness, and never 
for one moment lost sight of her, nor suffered a single movement to escape them, this terri- 
ble phenomenon was I'epeated five times in less than an hour. Each time, the ladies washed 
off the stain. They affirm what the whole circle attested : that the girl never moved from 
her seat ; that her eyes were generally closed ; her face, except when stained by the sudden 
and ensanguined marks, as pale as death ; and not a movement was made by her, except, 
from time to time, to extend her hands in the attitude of one who attempts to drive off some 
approaching object ; and it was at such moments that the blood-stains instantaneously ap- 
peared on her hands, face, and throat. At last the unfortunate medium appeared to become 
so utterly prostrate, that the circle, appalled and disgiTsted, broke up, and the ladies in at- 
tendance proposed to help her mother-in-law to remove her to her chamber. For this pur- 
pose, two of the ladies, Mrs. T. and Mrs. S., placed themselves one on either side of the 
medium, to lead her out ; but just as they reached the door, they each, simultaneously, re- 
ceived some kind of propelling power that drove them backwards as if by a galvanic shock, 
and once more the clear and distinct mark of a bloody hand and fingers was imprinted on 
the young girl's neck. 

"With much difficulty, and after several similar attempts and rebuffs, they succeeded in 
supporting her to the head of the stairs, when the sound of a heavy fall drew the rest of the 
circle from the room below. There they found the ladies reclining against the wall equally 
terrified and exhausted ; the medium had fallen to the ground, and the face, neck, and di-ess 
of one of the ladies were stained with large splashes of fresh wet blood. 

"Arrived at last, by aid of assistants, at the chamber, the girl was laid upon her bed, 
when a young sister of the medium's declared that the ' Spanish girl ' was already lying on 
the pillow ; the next moment the pillow where they laid the girl down, was observed to be 
crimsoned with blood. The younger children always insisted that these fj-ightful marks were 
made * by a Spanish girl ' who followed their sister about. She had her throat cut, they 
said ; and another apparition who helped to make the marks, was their mother, v/hom they 
represented as reproaching her daughter with an infamous life 

"This is but a small portion of this singular and revolting history. The merchant to 
whom I before alluded as one of my informants, Mr. B., assured me that, curious to wit- 
ness this remarkable phenomenon, he one day went to the house with a member of the 
police force who had frequently attended the weird circles held there, though he was un- 
willing to acknowledge that he had done so. Mr. B. and the policeman, observing the girl 
leaning out of the parlor window, stopped and conversed with her. Suddenly she drew 
back with a look of horror, when one of the hands she extended to ward off some invisible 
danger, and one side of her pallid face, were instantly covered with blood. 

" The quality of this fluid has been several times analyzed, and always corresponds to that 
of human blood. 

" The manifestations occurred during many months, and the persons in whose presence 
they transpired are so numerous, that no phenomena are more abundantly witnessed. The 
police at length interfered to stop the circles, and the affair gradually died out with the re- 
moval of the young woman from her father's house. 

" The family at last denied entrance to the curious, and insisted that no further publicity 
should be given to the subject in connection with their names, on pain of prosecution. 

" The tongue of rumour, which could not be thus silenced, attributed to the unhappy 
daughter and her spirit mother, such practices as would render this ghastly phenomenon 
singularly significant. It is alleged that the family, having severed their connection with 
the unfortunate medium, have resolutely protested against further intercourse with Spiritu- 
alists, and live in strict seclusion, hence I do not feel at liberty to give their names or 
those of the witnesses to these facts, except in private. Any one can obtain this informa- 
tion from me, however, that will pledge themselves to use it only in questioning the wit- 
nesses, not in harassing the family, whose peace of mind and respectability they are said to 
have materially affected." 



456 HISTORY OF MODERN 

It is interesting to find that the above case, with its singular and repulsive 
details, does not stand alone. Besides the frequent occurrence of writings 
upon the persons of various mediums, bearing the appearance of being caused 
through a temporary determination of blood to the surface affected, produced 
by spirits in forming writings, pictures, etc., several manifestations are re- 
corded, in which blood, in its fluid state, has actually been drawn by spirit- 
power through the veins, and made to appear on the skin. One alone of 
these examples our space will enable us to recite. It is recorded in the 
Banner of Light, and the correspondent who furnishes it, is well known to 
the editor, who fully vouches for his veracity : 

"WONDERFUL MANIFESTATIONS. 

"On a late visit to the island of Nantucket, being favored with the presence of an excel- 
lent medium, Mr. John Gardner, we had some remarkable demonstrations. 

"At one of our sittings we received a communication from a very dear friend, who was 
murdered in California some two years since. During the communication the medium laid 
his hand, palm downwards, on the table, and presently asked me to remove it cautiously. I 
did so, and, to my great astonishment, there were three large clots of wet blood, the size of 
a dollar. At several other sittings the same phenomenon was repeated. The blood was wet; 
and our most careful and searching investigations could not detect any other origin for it 
than that which was claimed in the communication, namely, a spiritual one. My sister and 
brother were present, together with Mr. P. and Mrs. G., all of whom wiU bear witness to 
the facts. This manifestation, however, is not unusual with Mr. Gardner, who is a very 
powerful medium. 

"M. C. B." 

Nearly all the Spiritualism of California partook of the weird and as- 
tounding character of the manifestations above described. The authoi-'s 
own experience of fifteen months' residence and travel through this State 
forms the most exciting and almost incredible episode of her life's history. 
The circumstances attendant on such scenes would be too personal for 
detail in these pages, yet it is due to the history of Spiritualism to potice 
how far, wise and beneficent beings could operate on human destiny, under 
the most trying of circumstances. From the force of an uncontrollable 
series of events, the author landed on the shores of California, almost un- 
expectedly, unannounced, and nearly a stranger, except by reputation, to the 
few Spiritualists in the country. Worldly means or aid she had none, save 
the friendship of Mr. I. V. Mansfield, the kind and popular "postmaster" 
between the natural and spiritual worlds. 

This seemingly hazardous and uncertain visit was made at the earnest 
charge of " the spirits," who declared that fame, honor, success, friends, and 
fair reward should crown her daring experiment, besides effecting a work for 
Spiritualism whose permanent effects would endure forever. 

All, and more than all these promises, were fulfilled. In her far and wide 
wanderings throughout the State, extending even into the distant territories ; 
in the midst of a wild and semi-hostile Indian country, hair-breadth escapes 
for her life were constantly effected, by the ever-watchful care and prescient 
guardianship of beloved spirit friends. Dangerous pohtical mobs were con- 
verted into generous protectors, by the power which mighty spirits brought 
to bear through her mediumship. Again and again her little store of valu- 
ables, or slender purse was rescued by supra-mundane care from the very 
hands of brigands ; and in the combined character of a political as well as a 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 457 

spiritual missionary, v/hich she assumed during the gi-eat struggle of the war, 
and in which she was constantly exposed to the antagonism of fierce riva»^ 
parties, as well as sects, it is not too much to allege that she seemed to 
bear a charmed life, and spirit-power was in every direction made specially 
manifest through this, their medium. 

In the last few weeks of her residence in California, the author enjoyed 
the high privilege of being invited by the Union party of that State to under- 
take a perilous campaign in favor of the re-election of President Lincoln. 
The weather was fearfully sultry, and the mountain roads, of almost prime- 
val wildness, were insufferable from roughness and dust, aggravated by a 
twelve-months' drought. The fury of the contest was for life or death, war 
or peace ; the destruction or unity of American republicanism. In the heat 
of such a terrific conflict the most bitter opprobrium was heaped on the 
head of the "female politician;" the most crafty and desperate attempts 
made to silence her obnoxious pleadings; yet, under the incessant guide, 
conduct, warnings, and promises of her beloved spirit friends, her campaign 
of thirty-two addresses, given in thirty-six days, was accomplished ■\\dthout 
harm, let, hindrance, a single failure, or the least disturbance, and that, 
amongst the thousands and tens of thousands who crowded to hear her, one 
half at least of whom were her bitterest opponents. The whole course and 
triumphant termination of the campaign was laid out for her, and predicted 
through her lips by her guardian spirits, and when her superhuman labors 
were brought to a close, even those who had no knowledge of, or sympathy 
with Spiritualism, pondered over the marvellous incidents of this extraordi- 
nary career, and owned that whatever master she had served, none but a 
supra or .fz/i^-mundane power could have conducted her through it. Her 
adventures and achievements in this respect alone, have been, to all who fol- 
lowed them, a direct evidence of supernal power and guidance, or else a leaf, 
from the unexplained and fantastic pages of the " wild and the wonderful." 

One of the most successful and industrious pioneers of Spiritualism in 
California was Mr. I. V. Mansfield, the far-famed writing medium, so often 
alluded to in this volume. This excellent and faithful laborer succeeded in 
making thousands of converts during his four years' residence in California, 
v/hile his unblemished character, no less than his remarkable -phenomenal 
gifts, carried him triumphantly through all opposition. During his residence 
on the Pacific coast, Mr. Mansfield [though entirely unacquainted with any 
language but his own] wrote answers to sealed letters in German, Greek, 
Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, French, and Mexican. 

Some of his converts were amongst the best and most exalted minds in the 
country. Altogether, this accomplished medium performed a work which 
the ingratitude of man may disregard or forget in more recent marvels, but 
which assuredly laid the foundations of a rational, demonstrated belief in 
spirit communion throughout the State of California. The details of Mr. 
IMansfield's labors — like those of Emma Hardinge — can only find a place 
amongst the special records of biography ; but the history of Spuitualism on 
the Pacific coast would be as incomplete without a notice of his invaluable 
service to the cause, as a history of the State of California, -without allusion to 
the golden product which gives its special value and characteristics to the 
country. 

Since the departure of ]\Ir. Mansfield and the author from California, 
numerous- other esteemed missionaries have carried forward their work with 
increased advantages and proportionate success. 

Mr. Benjamin Todd, Mrs. Laura Cuppy, Mrs. DeForce Gordon, and 



458 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

S. J. Finney, ha,ve completely established the religious aspect of the cause, 
by regular Sabbath meetings and excellent children's lyceums. Mrs. C. M. 
Stowe, a favorite lecturer and clairvo}-ant from the West, has practiced there 
most successfully, and Ada Hoyt, — now Mrs. Foye, — the far-famed rapping 
and test medium, has chased away the last vestige of scepticism from the 
minds of the multitudes who have flocked to witness her public demonstra- 
tions of spirit communion and identity. Many other gifted mediums have 
found a welcome on the Pacific coast, and still more are bending their steps 
thitherward, encouraged by the resistless spread of their belief all over the 
land ; penetrating even beyond the young Silver State of Nevada, which was 
territory at the time of the author's visit, whilst its "cities," in 1863-4, were 
little more than mining camps. Here still resides Mrs. Webber, once Miss 
Munson, a charming trance speaker and medical clairvoyant, and the firs. 
lady who ever had the courage to deliver a spiritual lecture in the "Golden 
State," and that too when it was almost a rare sight to behold there a "white 
woman," much less one who could discourse with such tender eloquence to 
assembled multitudes as Miss Munson. 

The continued fresh arrivals of popular and gifted mediums has almost 
obliterated the memory of the early pioneers from the minds of later settlers 
and converts, but their "works do follow them ;" and though the track which 
their torn and bleeding feet so painfully beat, is now happily worn wide and 
smooth by the tramp of a numerous and rapid following, the concrete work, 
as a whole, has succeeded, no matter who has sown the seed or reaped the 
harvest. Thus, then, the white standards of Spiritualism float over earth's 
loveliest and richest garden grounds, from the sunny shores of San Francisco 
Bay to the snow-capped heights of the mighty Sierra Nevadas. They fling 
their white pennons far over the dreary " sage bush" country into the barren 
wastes of the vast desert. 

Their snowy emblems of peace on earth and good will to men, float over 
the ocean waves that cap the Titanic basaltic castles of Point St. Lucas. 
Some of us who have stood on that further shore, washed by the Western 
wave- whose sunlit billows beat in rebounding flow on the shores of the 
furthest East, have truly seen the first and last of earthly boundaries united 
by a single bridge of sunbeams ; and those who have had the happy priv- 
ilege to re-echo in these distant lands the first glad tidings of immortal life, 
brought by immortal messengers, might well believe they have seen the 
dawning of a spiritual morning, more gloriously bright and full of redemp- 
tive hope than all the beauty, wealth, and power that the earthly sun has 
shone on during its long day's march around the globe. 

These human pioneers may never see, on earth, the noontide glory of that 
spiritual sun ; but they know its refulgent beams will light them in the land 
where it never sets, and gleam in und3dng splendor around their path in the 
spirit countr)^, where all their labors find eternal rest, and the long-forgotten 
acts of earthly effort, deeds of blessing, or even kindly wishes, will bloom in 
undying fragrance ; flowers of eternal beauty in their path, whose deeds were 
sown in their thorny human pilgrimage. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 459 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS ACCOUNTS OF SPIRITUALISM IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA. 

" And still they come from Quito's walls. 

And from the Orinoco's tide : 
From Lima's Inca haunted halls. 

From Santa Fe and Yucatan, 
A holy gathering, peaceful all ; 
No threat of war, no savage call 

For vengeance on an erring brother. 
But in their stead the God-like plan 
To teach the brotherhood of man 

To love and reverence one another." 

J. G. Whittier. 

Spiritualism in Canada — Wonderful Manifestations through a Piano — 
Spiritualism in Austria, Turkey, China [vide New York Tribune], Central 
and South America — Circles on the Ocean — Spirits in Prison — A Spir- 
itual Purgatory, and Methods of Progress — The Maracaybo Bull. 

We are now to take a brief glance at those distant scenes where the in- 
fluence of Eastern or even Western Spiritualism could only have been felt 
through vague and remote rumors. True it is, that the locomotive nature 
of Americans, ]3ropels them just as frequently to the furthest parts of the two 
Continents, North and South, as to the immediate vicinity of their own 
homes ; hence it is no matter of astonishment to find the ideas which we 
have just begun to discuss familiarly at our firesides, forming a staple topic 
of conversation in the distant wilds of Central America, the blooming valleys 
of the Amazon, or the primeval forests of Canada. 

spiritualism IN CANADA. 

Spiritualism has taken a firm and deep hold upon the inhabitants of this 
country, and in some parts exhibits a condition of progress little behind that 
of the States. 

In Toronto, Mrs. Swain, one of the most powerful physical mediums of the 
day, has for years been producing irresistible conviction of spirit communion 
upon the minds of hundreds who have attended her seances. 

In London, Canada West, a number of true-hearted believers have rallied 
round the lead of Mr. John Spetigue, who, himself a devoted Spiritualist, has 
for years labored in the cause, engaging speakers and aiding in the develop- 
ment of media, until his efforts have resulted in procuring a respectful hear- 
ing for the one, and a very general growth of the other. 

In Ottawa may be found a brave and devoted little band of Spiritualists, 
who depend chiefly on the abundant medium power existing amongst their 
own ranks, the place being too remote to secure the services of travelling 
lecturers and media. 

At St. Catherine's there are a large number of Spiritualists, including 
several very excellent and successful healing mediums. Mr. Alfred H. 
Smith, of Eaprairie, Canada East, gives the following account of spiritualistic 
experiences in that place : 

'''Editor of the Spiritical Telegraph: 

" Sir, — The newspaper editors of Montreal having unanimously refused to insert a single 
word in favor of Spiritualism, while they open their colmmis to every idiot who may find 



46o HISTORY OF MODERN 

anythinjT to say against that doctrine, the friends of the cause have determined to apply to 
you, as your journal is devoted to the spread of Spiritualism, and if necessary to j^ay for the 
insertion of each communication. 

" It may be asked, why are we so anxious to publish our communications with sjDirits ? 
Our answer is, we cannot tell. We are forced to it by a power over which we have no 
control, and in consequence we ask you, in the name of God and of truth, to give publicity 
to the following : 

"It is about three years since I h^ard the phenomenon of Spiritualism first spoken of in 
Canada. I then, as well as at several periods since, looked upon the thing as a monstrous 
imposition. I however continued at the request of several friends to attend 'circles' 
of the believers in this new doctrine, but to no other effect than to confinn me in my 
scepticism ; and all the arguments of my friends and all the alleged manifestations were 
insufficient to convince me. But Providence chooses its own time. 

"In July, 1S53, I left Canada, in company with an estimable friend, W. F. Ilawley 
Esq., of the Ordnance Department, C. E., on a tour through the Middle and Western 
States ; and on Saturday, the 27th of August, we arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, where 
my friend was seized with yellow fever, and after an illness of nine days he expired. 

" It has never been my fortune to be acquainted with a more honest, upright, or learned 
man than Mr. Hawley. He, as well as myself, had investigated the subject of Spiritualism, 
but with a contrary result. He was a believer, while I, until the moment of his death, 
remained incredulous. 

" As I seldom left the bedside of my friend during his illness, I took frequent occasion to 
talk to him of the new faith, when he invariably expressed his entire belief in it ; and in a 
few days I had the inexpressible delight of witnessing the reAvard of his faith and the realiza- 
tion of all his hopes. Oh, sir! I cannot find words to express the transporting emotions 
which filled my mind at the moment of his death. Although I was the only living being 
present, yet I distinctly saw hundreds of moving forms around his bed, and in every part 
of the chamber, but of such dazzling splendor that I could not distinguish their features; 
the room was filled with superhuman sounds, which appeared to come from the ceiling ; 
and involuntarily looking up I distinctly saw the spirit hover over the body which it had 
just left, as if uncertain whither to direct its course. It remained thus during the space 
of a minute, then moving gently to one side it entered a body whose transcendent splendor 
the tongue of man cannot express. 

"At that moment I felt my mind, as it were, regenerated. " 

"I shall now give a few out of the many manifestations which have been witnessed, and 
can be attested, by the most respectable citizens of this village. 

"On Saturday, the 27th of August, 1853, "^7 fi'iend, Mr. William Fox, invited me to 
meet a circle of friends at his house ; accordingly I repaired thither at eight o'clock that 
evening, and met a highly respectable company, among them a clergyman who came to in- 
vestigate the subject for his own satisfaction. We had not sat more than twenty minutes 
when Mrs. Fox became greatly agitated ;' she was lifted forcibly from her chair, and sus- 
pended about a foot from the earth for a minute and a half; she was then placed in her 
chair again, but still agitated and unable to speak. It was evident the spirit had not suffi- 
cient influence over her. After some moments Mr. James Macdonald approached, and 
made a few passes over her, when she immediately spoke as follows : 

" * Friends, it is now five weeks since I left your society on earth, and, when I tell you 
my name, you will not be surprised that I desire to return amongst you in spirit, confirm- 
ing the glad anticipations of a bright existence in the spheres which I cherished on earth, 
desirous to instruct you in the glorious realities of my present exalted condition, and give 
you a foretaste of joys which await the good and true in these blissful regions. But as 
there is another spirit who wishes to communicate, I shall withdraw until to-morrow night. 

" 'Farewell: your friend, 

"«W. F. Hawley.' 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 461 

"To me tliat communication was most convincing. The style, language, and certain 
words of the phraseology, were essentially that of my friend. The influence then changed, 
when the medium said, addressing Mr. Macdonald, — 

" ' Friend Macdonald, I know the thoughts that now occupy your mind, and I come to 
tell you about your son, whom it was your earnest desire to hear of when you came to this 
circle. I have just left him where in spirit, I visited him, in a very bad condition both 
of body and mind, lying in an hospital in New Orleans, suffering from a severe attack of 
scrofula ; but you need not feel uneasy ; he is surrounded by the spirits of his friends, and 
your father, who occupies a higher sphere than that which I inhabit, teUs me that your son, 
although obstinate, is a chosen vessel, destined to do incalculable good among the faith- 
ful.' 

"Mr. Macdonald then asked: 'How am I to know that you are speaking the truth? 
What proofs can you give me ? What is your name ? ' It was written : ' Your father, who 
is present, will answer these. questions to your satisfaction.' 

" At this moment the husband of the medium came into the room, and, from some cause, 
the communication ceased; however, after a conversation of about twenty minutes on gen- 
eral topics, it v/as written : 

" ' My Dear Son, — Your questions to the spirit who has just left, I shall answer to your 
satisfaction. As a proof that what he told you is true, you shall receive a letter from New 
Orleans on Thursday next, corroborating the statement of your son's illness, and on Fri- 
day, the 28th of October, you shall receive a letter from himself requesting, to be again ad- 
mitted to your friendship. The name of the spirit is Thomas Hemy Caldwell, your son-in- 
law, and the favor which he requests you to do him is to pay an account which he owed 
Mr. Jolm Charlton at the time of his death. You can pay this account, as the whole of 
Caroline's fortune is still in your hands, and Caldwell has left no issue. 

" ' Good-night. 

" • William Macdonald. 

" Of the numerous family circumstances contained in these communications, not a soul 
present but Mr. Macdonald himself had the least knowledge. Although the communica- 
tions were of so delicate and personal a nature, however, he candidly informed the medium 
as well as all present, in a few weeks subsequent, that the letters promised from hisson had 
arrived. Every statement of the spirit was fully corroborated. 'In a word,' added Mr. 
Macdonald, ' unless it was spirits, no power under heaven could have made those disclosures 

to me.' 

"I am, yours," faithfully, 

"Alfred H. Smith." 

The following was communicated by Dr. Orton, a well-known New York 
physician, to the Spiritual Telegraph of JNIarch, 1858 : 

"DR. ORTON'S TOUR — MRS. HARDINGE AT MONTREAL. 

" Waterford, February 18, 1858. 

"I have just had the satisfaction of meeting Mrs. Hardinge here, at the house of Gen- 
eral Bullard, on her return from Montreal, and of learning, from the Canada papers she has 
brought along, the results of her Northern mission, which have been, and promise still to 
be, of a most interesting character. It seems that before leaving the States, at Rutland, 
Vei-mont, she was informed that her presence at Montreal as a public speaker, both on 
account of her sex and the doctrine she advocated, was likely to produce some disturb- 
ance ; and that certain persons were threatening to procure her arrest, should she undertake 
to lecture, as a disturber of the public peace ; hence, she was advised not to proceed. 

" On her arrival at Montreal all this proved true. Nevertheless, she proceeded to the 
fulfilment of her engagement. On entering the hall where she was to speak, on the first 
evening, she was met by sneers and audibly discourteous remarks, on the part of some of the 



462 HISTORY OF MODERN 

audience. This, however, ceased when she had spoken a few words, and all remained quiet 
and attentive to the close of the lecture. 

"The audience on this first occasion was not large ; but amongst it was a strong array 
of learning, — of priests, lawyers, doctors of various orders, and reporters. The time having 
arrived for questioning the speaker, a Jewish rabbi, of great scholarship and intelligence, 
was placed in the van as chief spokesman. A period of profound and exciting interest suc- 
ceeded. The questions, at least some of them, according to the journals of that city, were 
put with the obvious purpose of confounding the speaker; but, according to the same au- 
thority, each successive attempt M^as promptly fi'ustrated, and the tables turned upon the 
querists. It was declared that the spealcer must have devoted her life to study, in order to 
be able to exliibit the learning she displayed. The rabbi announced that it was plain that 
she was acquainted with the Hebrew language, and interrogated her on that point. She 
replied that she had never studied the Hebrew. But very shortly after, she tripped him on 
a point relating to that language, and reasoned him down until he acknowledged his error. 
At the close of the session, the victory remained triumphantly with the speaker. 

" On the second evening the hall was crowded, but with the lecture, the exercises termi- 
nated. No one, according to the journals referred to, seemed willing to enter the list and 
oppose himself to the ready wit and knowledge of the speaker. 

"Two moi-e evenings of crowded audiences, at an admission fee of twenty-five cents, suc- 
ceeded with like results. The questions were again resumed, but with no better success on 
the part of the querists. On all points raised, the lady speaker remained confessedly 
master of the field ; and with a fifth and free lecture on the Sabbath, on which occasion, 
she was tendered, and occupied the Unitarian Church, Mrs. Hardinge closed her labors at 
Montreal, where Spiritualism seems, previously, only to have been knouTi in name." 

The "important results" prophesied by Dr. Orton, in additional remarks 
omitted in this place, have indeed been accomplislied. From Montreal to 
Prince Edward's Island, Mrs. Hardinge extended her visits until the largest 
cities and villages of that section of the province became alive to tlie truths 
of Spiritualism, and earnest in evoking the abundant medium-power with which 
the Canadians seem to be endowed. 

At Bloomtield, a small village near Picton, Prince Edward's Island, the 
Universalists, triumphing over a powerful combination of other sectarian de- 
nominations, who brought their united forces to bear against them, at last 
succeeded in raising funds to build a church for themselves, which, for a long 
time they could not open in the face of the bitter antagonism with which their 
opinions were assailed. 

Taking advantage of the a,uthor's brief visit to the neighboring town of Pic- 
ton, the Universalists, uniting with a number of jDrogressive Quakers who re- 
sided there, invited her to open their church with a spiritual lecture. This 
announcement caused the remark, from the anti-progressives of the place, that 
" the Universalists had been obliged, at their repeated remonstrances, to sweep 
and garnish their house, even to the expulsion of the devil of Universa- 
lism, but lo ! now they were about to take unto themselves seven devils worse 
than the former one, in the shape of Spiritualism." 

The lecture, however, whatever its origin might have been in satanic imagin- 
ations, was a brilliant success. The building was crowded from floor to ceil- 
ing, and even the eminence on which it stood was packed with dense masses 
of human beings, who crowded round the open windows eager to catch the 
faintest vibration of the speaker's voice from within. Poor hungry multitudes ! 
They had fed so long on the stale crumbs of mouldy traditions, listening 
to the dim echoes from the corridors of a buried past, that the very shadow 
of the bright life angel that flitted across their path in the shape of Spiritual- 



AMERICAN -SPIRITUALISM. 463 

ism, seemed to them like manna fallen from the skies. At the close of the 
lecture, according to her custom, the speaker invited questions ; and after many 
had been answered and she was about to dismiss the multitudes who still lin- 
gered unwilling to part with her, a fine old octogenarian Quaker, whom the 
excessive heat of the thronged building had induced to strip off alike his coat 
and stubborn hat, sprang on a bench, crying, " One more question, blessed 
spirits ; only one more. Tell us, I pray thee, will she, thy medium, ever be 
permitted to come amongst us again." 

With the sad words of answer, " Never more in the mortal form," the vast 
assembly separated ; but the seeds of Spiritualism were sown on far more im- 
perishable foundations than the mound which supported the church where it 
was first proclaimed in Bloomiield. 

Although a vast amount of deeply interesting phenomenal Spiritualism is 
now scatered all over the province, especially amongst its French inhabitants, 
our space Avill only permit us to insert one more illustration of Canadian Spir- 
itualism, the manifestation of which was communicated by a reliable citizen 
of Toronto to the Spiritual Telegraph, and refers to the mediumship of Mrs. 
Swain, then a resident at Toronto. 

WONDERFUL MANIFESTATIONS BY A PIANO. — SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH. 

*' Toronto, October 14, 1856. 
" Messrs. Partridge and Brittan : 

"Dear Friends, — For the benefit of your many readers, I give you an account of one 
of the numerous demonstrations that we occasionally receive through the mediumship of 
Mrs. Swain, a lady of this city, who, for the different phases of that wonderful power of 
spirit influence, is rarely equalled. 

" Happening in her house a few weeks since, four persons beside the medium and myself 
took our seat, around a piano that was in the room, — myself locking it and placing the key 
in my pocket, — with the usual lights burning in the room. Shortly after the company had 
taken their seats, the keys of the instrument were sounded, and answers given in that man- 
ner to questions asked. Among many inquiries made was the question, ' who it was that 
was communicating with us,' when the name was spelled — by striking a key as the letter 
of the alphabet was poyited to — of an old friend of my o\\'n, one who had been many years 
at sea, and master of several ships. To prove his identity he, at my request, did several 
things, such as making the noise of a gale of wind rushing through the rigging and blocks of 
a vessel ; the plash of the water along the side ; breaking of the heavy seas on deck ; creak- 
ing of the guards and blocks; and rolling the heavy instrument, just like a vessel tossed 
about on a heavy sea. At the time I, and most of the other persons present were leaning all 
our weight on the instrument, it raised up and down, rolled about as if it were possessed with 
life, and became light as a feather, instead of weighing several hundred pounds ! To make 
assurance doubly sure, I put the following questions, knowing that no other person present 
beside myself knew the meaning of what I asked : ' Now, friend,' said I, 'we will call the 
end of the instrument toward my left the stern of your ship, and the opposite one the bow.* 
I was sitting at the front with my arms leaning on it. * Now, I want you to give your 
ship, as you call it, a list to port ; ' when immediately over it went to the opposite side to 
the one I was leaning on, and perfectly correct in seaman's language. It rested in that 
position for some time, nor could all our bearing down bring it back. I then asked the 
spirit to give 'luixh to starboard,' when over came the piano to the same inclination on the 
opposite side. I then asked him to give me a sample of a ship riding at anchor in a heavy 
head sea. Immediately, up raised the instrument at the bow, and then the end represent- 
ing the stern, and so on, first one and then the other, with an occasional roll to each side. 
After that was over, one of the party was influenced to sing a sea song, when a beautiful 
accompaniment was played on the strings to the tune ; and one wonder is, that the person 



464 HISTORY OF MODERN 

who sang, in his normal state could not sing at all, but at this time those who heard him 
said that he sang beautifully. Noav all this was done in a lighted room, with the instru- 
ment locked and the key in my own pocket ; and I know that one or more of the parties 

present never had their hands or arms from off the front board all the time 

"Yours sincerely, for the truth, 

" R." 
*' [The author of the above communication sends his full name, in attestation of the 
facts stated. — Ed. Telegraph.'^' 

In consulting the files of different foreign papers, our readers would be 
astonished to find the numerous allusions that are made to the spread of 
Spiritualism. Judge Edmonds cites his correspondence in Hindostan, 
China, Persia, Thibet, Algeria, the East and West Indies, and nearly every 
country of Europe, on this subject. The talented Poughkeepsie Seer, no 
less than the author of these pages, could present a similar record. The 
manifestations, however, were not always evidence to those in whose pres- 
ence they were produced, of their supra-mundane origin. 

The Chicago Tribime, of 1859, publishes the following : 

"The Kingston [Jamacia] Morning yournal of the 8th ultimo, gives the folloAving 
example of the mysterious power which takes possession of pine wood and mahogany. It 
will be perceived that tables are — occasionally, at least — superior to telegraphs as medi- 
ums of the earliest intelligence. We incline to the opinion, however, that they will not 
render such services often enough to suit the demands of speculators. A table, under the 
influence of a certain party in this city, was questioned as to the day on which the expected 
steamer would arrive, when it gave six distinct raps, making it the 6th. On the next ques- 
tion, as to the day of the week, seven was struck, making it Saturday. Subsequently an- 
other system of rapping — that of suspending a shilling by a thread over a glass — was con- 
sulted as to the hour at which the steamer would be signalized, and the answer was, 'One.' 

"How many minutes after? the answer was, 'Twenty.' These questions and answers were 
communicated to several parties in this city, and have, as our readers are aware, been cor- 
rect, the steamer having arrived on Saturday, the 6th, and was signalized at the exact 
time stated." 

Again, the New York Tribtme of the same year published a letter 
' from a Vienna correspondent, who says that the rappings and various other 
spirit manifestations have appeared, not only in the Austrian capital, but 
as far as Persia. We quote an extract from the letter in point : 

" The Tisehklopfen [table rappings] have also found their way to the imperial city, 
although they do not operate upon the slow and deliberate Germans in the same manner 
as they affei t the more excitable Americans. On the whole, there is something in the 
Geisierklopfen [spirit rappings] which exactly suits the transcendentalism of the Germans. 
A few days since I had a long sitting with Bibesco, the oracle of these things in Vienna. 
I hear of no other results good or bad, from the same, than that a few fortunate lottery 
tickets have been bought after consulting the spirits, and that certain ladies, more than a 
* thousand weeks old ' [the German of sweet seventeen] have consulted them upon ques- 
tions concerning their future. A friend who has a monomania for oriental affairs, read 
to me a few, nights since, from a Persian newspaper, that the ' spirits ' are also doing their . 
work at Teheran, the capital of that empire." 

The following is an account of Spiritualism in Guatemala, one of the prin- 
cipal Central American States, and the scene of those colossal and mysteri- 
ous ruins that speak with such voiceless eloquence of the unknown /aces 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 465 

that once inhabited this now deserted land. The writer is well known to 
the author by reputation, and deserves the highest credit for his noble char- 
acter and strict fidelity to truth. 

SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH.— LETTER FROM CENTRAL AMERICA. 

"So little is known among our people throughout the United States, of the spread 
of our beautiful philosophy, and the effect its truthfulness is producing in other countries, 
that I have thought it might be interesting, if not advantageous, to furnish you with a 
brief sketch of facts relating to Central America." 

"As the first pioneer to plant our standard there, I have taken a more than ordinary in- 
terest in the struggle that is at present going on, quietly but surely, for the rights of 
humanity, the liberty of thought, and the success of the great principles involved in the 
spiritual philosophy, between our friends and that portion of the Catholic population and 
church arrayed against it. As early as December, 1853, I convened a circle at my residence 
in- the city of Guatemala, and though it was kept pretty secret until 1858, still it was 
visited by a number of inquiring minds, and amongst them some of the clergy. Our 
mediums were already eight in number, all developed from this parent circle, exhibiting 
various phases of mediumship, but principally of a physical character. One of these was 
a little Indian girl of about thirteen years of age, through whom we obtained communica- 
tions with a spirit-scope of a very novel construction, the plan of which had been furnished 
me whilst under influence, and I am constrained to say that up to the present time I have 
seen no spirit telegraphing equal to, or more thoroughly satisfactoiy. The whole apparatus 
was insulated ; the alphabetical side of the disk presented to the investigator, 2Lndfroj)i the 
medium, who could not see a letter upon it, and yet we received communications in English, 
French, and German, as well as in Spanish and an Indian dialect, the two latter only being 
spoken or understood by the medium. Another of those developed was a young lady about 
nineteen years of age, with a slight tinge of Indian blood in her veins, through whom phys- 
ical manifestations and communications of a very extraordinary character were given. 
Among these were the carrying about and ringing of a large bell over the heads of the circle 
while the beams of the midday sun were .streaming in at the windows, and at the close of 
the ringing, the clapper would be taken out and thrown in a corner, and the bell laid on a 
table, or else placed upon some person's head. Large tables, chairs, and other articles, 
would be moved about and placed in most singular positions, and all done in the strongest 
light, whilst every one remained seated. When communications were given, a round table, 
the legs of pine and the top of hard-grained cedar, weighing about thirty pounds, was used. 
It was placed before the medium, who remained in contact with it about three minutes, 
then withdrew about eighteen inches or two feet from it. Mental and "WTitten questions as 
well as oral were always correctly answered, and in many instances things at the time unkno-wn 
to the questioner were told and afterwards verified. The mode of replying was, however, 
most singidar and satisfactor}^ The table always rose perpendicularly, at least one foot 
and frequently two, in the air, and descending, struck the floor sharply, once, twice, three 
times, or oftener, as was the right answer. Let me here state, that, after a careful investi- 
gation of cause and efl"ect in these manifestations in Central America, for about ten years, 
I found that the greater the altitude above the sea, and the more pure and elastic the at- 
mosphere from such elevation, the more powerful the manifestations; and this was explained 
by our spirit intelligences as occasioned by the better conditions it afforded them to operate 
in. 

" In 1859 ^^*i 1S60, however, affairs took a change. Several new circles were established, 
and quite a number of new mediums became developed. About this time [early in 1S60J, 
I had an interview with President Carrena and some of the leading gentlemen on the sub- 
ject, and invited them to attend at my house and see for themselves. This they did, and 
from that day the matter was secret no longer. The President, on that occasion, received 
30 



466 HISTORY OF MODERN 

a communication from his wife, shortly before deceased, and in such a way and about such 
matters, as convinced him at the outset that he could not have been imposed upon, and 
from that time forth, up to his recent death, he was a firm believer in the fact that s])irit« 
could return and communicate after death. 

" These facts soon became known, and inquiry commenced generally, not only in the city, 
but throughout different parts of the country. 

" When did the church permit the enthralled being to escape from it without a strug- 
gle? A small paper was started to put doviTi investigation [it died after an existence 
of four months] by putting forth the most consummate falsehoods and denouncing the be- 
lievers of the spiritual philosophy as enemies to God and man ; devils, whose objects were 
to overthrow religion and morality, and institute something terrible, but unknowoi, in their 
stead. The pulpits of the clergy teemed with tire vilest abuse, and the Jesuit Fathers went 
so far as to announce that any person attending a circle, or permitting one to be held in his 
house, would be denied the rites of the Catholic Church [absolution and communion after 
confessing] as well as of burial in consecrated ground. They declared their power to exor- 
cise and put down this devil of Spiritualism, and were determined to do it. Now came the 
trial, for the whole power of the church was defied ; many of the clergy themselves were 
investigating secretly, the better educated classof people were doing so openly, and the cause 
was spreading more and more. 

"A trial of strength at last took place. A gentleman, in whose house was a powerful 
medium, desired the fathers to exorcise the devil, and stop the rappings and other demon- 
strations. An altar was prepared and decked out in the parlor, holy water sprinkled, the 
prayers for the exorcism of tire devil read, incense burned, and every effort that priestcraft 
and ingenuity could devise, made, but it was of no use ; the rappings continued during the 
whole performance, and, as if in sheer mockery, a small table upon which a lighted caudle 
was placed, was upset, the candle describing a parabola in the air as it fell, whilst no per- 
son was within six feet of it. To the credit of the clergy here [outside the Jesuits] be it 
said, that they admit the phenomena, and many believe that good as well as evil influences 
control it, though the greater portion call it the work of the devil. They all, however, 
recommend to their congregations to 'leave it alone,' and not to meddle with things they 
know nothing about, or cannot understand, but leave the church to grapple with it. Such 
are their teachings. 

' ' The progress of our cause, however, is stiU onward, and though its march is slow, with 
many obstacles to encounter and overcome, it is sure and will triumph. There are at pres- 
ent over fifty circles in the country, some one hundred known mediums, and probably as 
many private ones, and at least ten thousand spiritual investigators. This is v>^onderful in itself 
to those who know what Central America is, and how difficult it is for truth to obtain a 
hearing where the people are taught never to think for themselves, but leave the church to 
do it for them. 

" Fraternally yours, 

"GUILLERMO." 

Numerous letters from prominent citizens of Central America, detailing the 
rise and progress of Spiritualism in their state or town, have been received by 
the author, and carefully verified ; but as the manifestations they describe do 
not present any special features of variety or interest, their insertion here 
would but be needless. From the statistics furnished by these parties, how- 
ever, we should be disposed to rate the number of Spiritualists in Central 
America at at least twice the number, in 1866, to what they were when our 
correspondent wrote in 1859. Dr. Fitzgibbon, late Governor of Bey Island, 
himself a strong Spiritualist and medium, gave a very encouraging account of 
the cause in these states, where, he affirmed, hundreds of the native Indians 
were fine seers and natural mediums, endowed with stronger and stranger 
gifts than any known to Europeans or Americans. He relates many striking 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 467 

incidents of circles held amongst the deep umbrageous shades of the wild 
woods, and almost impenetrable thickets, in which the presence of spirits 
calling themselves " L'Espano Americano" were manifest. Some of the spirits 
mysteriously brought stones from the altars of the lost races, and gave, 
through their singular, but graphic pantomimic representations, distinct assur- 
ances that they were the original builders of these wonderful forest vestiges. 

Other spirits, claiming to be a still more ancient race, and insisting tliat they 
were the original builders of all the Central American cities, represented 
themselves through an unknown tongue, — translated by the guardian spirits 
of the mediums, — as ancient Phoenicians, Japanese, Tartars, and Arabs, 
many tribes of whom, they said, penetrated to the American Continent from 
the extreme north, across what is now called Behring's Straits, but which these 
spirits persisted in affirming was, in their day, part of " our great dry land 
globe," which was broken by ice seas, floes, and channels, but which was 
perfectly traversable by the inhabitants of what are now deemed two sepa- 
rate continents 

As early as 1854, Spiritualism made its appearance on the Island of Cuba, 
and as it has since obtained a good foothold, even in that land of devoted 
and conservative Catholicism, it may not be uninteresting to note its earliest 
manifestations, as recorded through the correspondents of the Telegraph 
papers. 

The first article of this kind is headed 

"TPIE SPIRITS AT HAVANA. 

"April 12, 1854. 
*' To the Editor of the Spiritual Telegraph: 

" Dear Sir, — In frequent conversations with our mutual friend, Mr. Joseph T. Bailey, 
late of Philadelphia, who departed this life a few weeks ago near Matanzas on this island, 
he expressed a conviction that it would be gratifying to you to hear of the extension of the 
spiritual philosophy, and the vast field opening for its manifestations among a people so 
different to us in customs, language, and religion 

"Being desirous to investigate and witness some demonstrations in Spiritualism, I con- 
vened, in December last, several friends at my house [Mr. Bailey as one], where, on the 
third night, after a session of an hour each time, we were gratified and rejoiced at a re- 
sponse to our desires, since which time we have sessions in a number of private families, 
and an accession of many converts to the philosophy ; but, unfortunately, it is like feeling 
in the dark, as we have no books in the Spanish language throwing light or information on 
the subjectj and my principal object in addressing you at present is to suggest that, if you 
would have translated the works of Judge Edmonds and Tallmadge, it would meet with an 
extended demand throughout all Spanish North and South America, thus disseminating 
truth and benefiting humanity. 

" We have obtained, as yet, but one healing medium, and one indifferent vwiting medi- 
um, the former a young lady, and the latter a young gentleman, both members of most re- 
spectable families ; consequently, the manifestations with us have not been of an extra- 
ordinary character, or such as would be so denominated in the United States, but suffi- 
ciently flattering, considering the short time our attention has been drawn to the subject, 
and we confidently expect to be favored with something more astonishing. 

" Although I am fifty years of age, I hope to live long enough to witness much happi- 
ness from the spiritual intercourse between this and the next sphere. 

•' Wishing you health and prosperity, I remain yours ever truly, 

"William Fulton, 
" Proprietor of Mansion Hozise Hotel.^* 



463 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

"THE SPIRITS AND THE SPANISH. —TELEGRAPH PAPERS — APRIL, 1855. 

" Mrs. Curtis, sister to one of the editors of the Evening Mirror, is at present writing 
a series of letters from Havana. From the number which appeared in the Mirror of the 
2ist inst., we extract the subjoined paragi-aph : 

" ' There is considerable interest felt here in the subject of spirit manifestations. Judge 
Edmonds stopped at our hotel when on the island, and, just before he left, had one or two 
sittings in the parlor. I attended a circle, a few evenings since, at Dr. Cavillo's. When 
I entered the saloon, some of the family were seated around the table, patiently waiting for 
manifestations. The table at length commenced tipping in answer to the questions pro- 
posed. Spanish Spiritualists bear a close resemblance to the same class of persons at home ; 
and, although I have gi-eat reverence for the subject, yet the questioning sounded so trivial 
that it did not tend to elevate the Spiritualists in my eyes to a level with Spiritualism, 
proving that the communion with the spirit world, although it has assumed a some- 
what new form in the American movement, is simply the stream of imbroken revelation 
flowing on from time to eternity.' 

"SPIRITS IN CHINA. 

" Under this head we find, in the New York Tribune of May 22, a communication re- 
ferring to an article published in the North China Herald, in March, 1854, by Dr. Mac- 
gowan, a respectable English physician long resident in China, in which article it was repre- 
ented that spiritual manifestations, in the form of table tippings, were quite common in 
and about the city of Ningpo, and that the ■writer had known of the existence of said phe- 
nomena in that locality as early as 1844. 

*'It was moreover represented that the opinions and proceedings of the Chinese Spiritu- 
alists were quite similar to those of their American brethren. But, desiring some more de- 
finite information on this general subject, the Tribune'' s correspondent had written to Dr. 
Macgowan, and received the following reply : 

" 'Ningpo, China, February 27, 1857. 

" 'Dear Sir, — My notes on table-moving and spiritual manifestations in China, an ab- 
stract of which was published in the Alta California from Chinese periodicals, contain 
nearly all that I have to communicate on those subjects. Much interesting matter, as you 
suggest, might be obtained in this country, on questions of that description ; for, according 
to the universal belief of the inhabitants, and of many foreigners also, demons and the souls 
of departed men exercise ceaseless influence on human affairs, and respond to invocations 
duly addressed to them. But other engagements preclude me from pursuing these and 
kmdred psychological inquiries ; and as I remarked to a learned German who lately ad- 
dressed me precisely as you have, it is desirable that some believer in these supernatural 
occurrences should undertake to write their history. 

" 'All the Roman Catholic, and not a few Protestant missionaries, ascribe to demoniacal 
agency many of the so-called supernatural or spiritual manifestations that are obser\'ed in 
China. 

" ' The scientific inquirer might then follow and elucidate the subject. Additional inter- 
est would be given to such inquiries by treating on the superstitions of Mian-tse, or abo- 
riginal tribes, and also on the official aspect of geomancy and supernatural questions. 

" 'On this last subject, the history of the 'heavenly teacher, Tsiang Tiense, hereditary 
high priest of the Tanists, alchemists, or sect of reason, is rich in material. That singular 
potentate has been recognized by many successive dynasties, as exorciser-general of the Em- 
pire. His palace is in the adjoining province of Kiang-si, in the prefecture of Nankang. 
When persons or palaces are possessed of maleficent spirits, he is appealed to, and if suita- 
bly remunerated, he writes amulets which afford immediate relief; or, sometimes he dis- 
patches ghostly bailiffs for the apprehension of the offending demon, who is at once bottled 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 469 

up, as all huriful spirits should be. I briefly allude to these notions of the Chinese, to show 
that, though I am unable to prosecute the inquiries you propose, it is not from paucity of 
material. I should add that table-moving, as I have described it, is an ancient practice, not, 
as you suppose, modem. 

" 'Most truly, yours, 

"'D. J. Macgowan.'" 

We may add to the above that China is not the only oriental country in 
which spiritual intercourse has existed," in some form, from remote antiquity. 
In Hindostan, in Tartary, and even among the rude tribes of Kamtchatka, it 
appears to have been always known in some shape ; but, according to general 
representations which we have received from oriental lands, it appears that 
spiritual intercourse has, as it were, simultaneously become far more conspic- 
uous and signal than usual within the last few years, thus indicating a precon- 
certed, providential arrangement in the interior world, to initiate some new 
and important dispensation upon earth. 

Quite recently we had the pleasure of conversing with an intelligent Ger- 
man, v/ho, within the last year, had travelled among the Arabs and in the 
Barbary States, and found a fully developed spiritual intercourse everj'where 
remarkably prevalent among them. 

Although not directly bearmg upon the subject of American Spiritualism, 
the following notice, appearing in so authoritative a journal as the New York 
Tribune of 1856, may not be deemed out of place, as a citation of the vast 
spread of the manifestations : 

" SPIRITUAL RAPPINGS IN TURKEY. 

"Constantinople, March 17, 1856. 

" For more than a year or so past, news of the turning tables has been well known here, 
and tried with entire success by several individuals, young and old, credulous and incredu- 
lous, nervous as well as those of strong frames and powerful nei~7es, to the utter amazement 
of the spectators. More recently, spiritual rappings have been experimentalized in this 
city, with equal success, and as little understood. 

"An Armenian physician. Dr. Shishman, a pupil of the seminary of the Rev. Mr. 
Hamlin, American Missionary of Bebek, on the Bosphorous, lately returned here from 
Paris, where he had gone to perfect his medical studies. While in this capital. Dr. S. 
either heard of or saw experiments of rappinjs and animal magnetism, and explained 
the results to some of his countrymen of this place, much, no doubt, to their surprise and 
curiosity. 

" Since his arrival, private individuals have endeavored to ascertain whether or not they 
possessed the power of magnetism, and succeeded entirely. One, a young Armenian lady 
of Galata, of a very nervous temperament, can sei-ve as a medium between invoked 
spirits and human beings still of this life. Startling as this assertion seems, the facts which 
I shall detail will ser\'e to support it. 

"The young lady in question had, until recently, a nervous indisposition. She became 
frequently attacked with hysteria, and suffered much from a feeble frame. She was placed 
imder Dr. S.'s care, who has succeeded in curing her almost entirely. She experimented 
with the tables with extraordinary success, and, at the request of the doctor, she consented 
to make an attempt at serving as a medium between invoked spirits and those who choose 
to ask for them. For this purpose she seats herself near any small circular table supported 
by a tripod. She rests her right hand upon this table, and any person present being de- 
cided to ask whether a certain spirit — say of Napoleon, Lord Byron, or Mirabeau — will 
respond to his or her questions, makes the request in an ordinarily loud voice. If the 
■ spirit is disposed to accede to the reques':, a knocking is distinctly heard upon one of the 



470 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

three feet of the table. The request must be made in the language which the spirit must 
have spoken while in this life. 

" Many of the responses have filled all those present with surprise. The incredulous have 
been greatly embarrassed by them, and, like myself, all feel that there must be either some 
deception, or some result of magnetism thus brought into action, heretofore unknown. 

"Most of the spirits invoked have been departed Armenians, and consequently the language 
spoken is the Armenian, with which I am wholly unacquainted. What they have been, and 
still are, is freely mentioned. The spirit of an uncle of the young lady serving as a medium, 
was one evening invoked, and she had to be cut off immediately from her condition of me- 
dium, or she would have fainted, so much was she affected by it. To do this it is only 
necessary for a stranger to touch the hand placed upon the table. On Lord Byron's spirit 
being invoked, the rappings on the table were most violent, and so alarmed those present 
that the medium had to be cut off immediately. 

" One of the spirits has stated that there are twelve persons in this place who have the fac- 
ulty of serving as mediums. Some of them ar6 known. One is a married lady of rank, 
who has tried an experiment with entire success, but, as well from her repugnance as from 
that of her friends and relations, she has determined not to attempt it again. I would add 
that one of my particular friends, ayomig Armenian full of conscientious convictions and of 
a probity and morality beyond all suspicion, has a brother, a priest at the Armenian CoUege 
of St Lazarus in Venice, to whom he is greatly attached. As an experiment, he asked 
whether the 'guardian spirit' of this brother would manifest itself to him. It did so, and 
said that it was no human spirit but a 'cherubim.' 

" The impression which these facts — for such they certainly are — have made in Constanti- 
nople, is very great. Animal magnetism has, however, been practiced here by some of the 
dervishes for many past years, for the curing of diseases and allaying of pain. I have 
witnessed this a hundred times, and fully believe in its efficiency. It is nothing more than 
manipulation of the parts affected. I verily believe that the operator is wholly unacquainted 
with all magnetism as a science and ascribes it to the superhuman powers given him by 
Allah, or the prophet, in recompense for his piety and constant mention or contemplation 
of the name of Allah. ' ' 

As the early spiritual journals made frequent mention of circles held at 
Caracas, Venezuela, South America, and a very well written paper entitled 
El EsJ>lriiHalisfewd.sior a long time published in that remote te?-ra incognita, 
our sketches of spiritual progress in the new world would be incomplete 
without some description of the status of Spiritualism in that district. 
The extracts are chiefly taken from the Spiritual Telegraph, whose editor 
gives the following account of the chief promoter of the movement in 
Caracas : 

"SPIRITUALISM IN SOUTH AMERICA. 

"Mr. S. Driggs, of Cai-acas, S. A., editor of El Espiritiialiste, is now in the city, 
and gives us some interesting particulars of the phenomena, as they exist far down towards 
the equator. There, among foreigners, and natives alike of Spanish and Indian descent, 
a spiritual intelligence is endeavoring to manifest its existence, and to demonstrate to 
the common mind that the seen and unseeen worlds are not separated by an impassable 
gulf, but flow in together as body and spirit, forming one grand whole to the universe ; 
and that man, after passing from mortal sight, stiU lives. 

" The Indian population of Venezuela, Mr. D. informs us, are peculiarly susceptible to 
spii-it influence ; and as in different countries the phenomena while the same in fact, 
assume different forms, to fit them, we may suppose, to the particular genius of the 
people, so in Caracas and its neighborhood, the modes of obtaining manifestations are new 
and peculiar. " 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 473 

"The tables in more common use there, it appears, are round, and sustained on a cintral 
cohmin and three legs. Around the circumference of the bed of one of these is arranged 
the alphabet, and along by the side of the line of letters a little railroad track, .on which 
plays a car with a pointer. The preliminaries having been gone through, the circle formed, 
and the influence present, the medium lightly touches the car with his finger, when it starts 
on its course, running from one part of the table to another, and pointing out the letters, 
which are to be woven into words and sentences, and fonn a communication from the in- 
habitants of the invisible world. Or if a table prepared with rail and car is not at hand, 
the alphabet is arranged on the floor, when the table, poising itself on two legs, uses one 
of its feet as a pointer, and thus demonstrates a li\ing chain of connection between the two 
spheres." 

In 1S65, Mr. Seth Driggs communicated his own views of Spiritualism as 
follows, to tlie Banner of Light : 

"MANIFESTATIONS AT DEVELOPING CIRCLES. 

"In all the communications I have seen published in reference to the spiritual philosophy, 
there is nothing like the occurrences which were manifested at the Central Circle of Caracas, 
in past years. Some of the facts were published in a New York spiritual paper at the time; 
but tens of thousands who read the Banjier of Light, it may be presumed, never saw 
those publications, and as they may prove interesting, I take pleasure in furnishing a few 
extracts from the records kept at that time, as I acted as scribe 

"Returning to Caracas after a tour through the North, I formed a circle, and selected 
three persons to sit with me. In twenty minutes the table tipped over upon my breast ; and 
we had divers communications through this method, and that, too, ■without any developed 
medium. 

"On the tenth sitting, one of our number, who was an imbeliever, saw figures on the 
table, produced by the invisibles. At subsequent sittings he saw writing on the table and 
on the wall, which he read ; and soon after beheld departed spirits whom he had laiown in 
the flesh. 

" At succeeding circles, loud raps were produced in answer to questions ; and soon the 
medium became entranced and spoke. We then had many interesting communications from 
our departed spirit friends. 

"At one sitting they manifested themselves to the medium's spiritual eyes, when there 
also appeared brilliant letters 

"My angel sister, Susan, formed a celestial circle in the spheres for the purpose of hold- 
ing communion with our circle, to which new members were added from time to time. On 
taking our seats at the table, the medium, being entranced, would say, in a loud voice, 
' Now call over your spirit rolL' It being called, all the spirits present answered to their 
names by giving a loud rap on the table. The number of spirits who had been permitted 
to join the circle havmg increased, they were divided as follows : Ecclesiastical, nine ; 
military, nine ; civic, eight ; females, eighteen ; making forty-four members on the 31st of 
December, 1856, to which number four more were aftenvards added. There was also a 
spirit medical board, for curing the sick through the medium. When a new member was 
admitted, it was announced in a loud voice, ' add such a name to your spirit-list,' which I 
at once recorded. As the spirit members of the circle advanced to a higher sphere, it was 
regularly aimounced in a loud voice, through the medium, and recorded. 

"The progress made by the spirits after coming to our circles, was astonishing; and I 
would advise all Spiritualists to sit.in cuxles, with or without mediums, to assist the departed 
spirits who may come for that purpose. They can do much good, and assist spirits in their 
progress to the realms of bliss. 

"Seth Driggs. 

"Caracas, Venezuela, fime i, 1865." 



472 HISTORY OF MOBERN 

The next extracts date back to 1856, and claim to record signs of progress, 
in the communications received. 



"SPIRITUALISM IN VENEZUELA. —FROM EL SPIRITUALISTE. 

"A German, having a store immediately opposite to the archbishop's palace, held a 
commmiication by tipping the table, with departed spirits, when it was spelled out : ' Re- 
pent or you will be damned.' This had the effect to make the man partially insane. He 
commenced praying aloud in the Spanish language, which he knew but little of. The 
archbishop was attracted to his balcony, and, as the friar says, was confounded. Here 
was a Jew, without any religion, who was converted, and called on the name of the Lord, 
on the Saviour, and the Holy Virgin, to save his soul, in presence of the archbishop and 
a crowd of people. He repeated the Lord's prayer and other prayers, in good Spanish 
under spiritual influence. 

" Spiritualism is making headway in Caracas and in the provinces. The church attempted 
to stop it, but did not succeed. 

"There are circles in the houses of the president, the governor, the ministers of state, 
and every influential family in Caracas. The ball is rolling, and the great and glorious 
cause is progressing with lightning speed. The dark veil of superstition is being gi-adually 
raised and the haven of eternal felicity is presented to the view of all who seek the boon. 

" Our little circle is greatly favored; we are continually surrounded with spirits of the 
highest order, who hover over our spiritual table, singing anthems and praises to the Most 
High. Our medium has had the gift of seeing spirits with his natural eyes bestowed upon 
him. The time is approaching when all sectaiuan feuds wiU cease their strife, and all man- 
kind will be united as brothers and sisters, in one universal and spiritual church. 

"Seth Driggs." 

"Caracas, September 20, 1856. " 



"SPIRITUALISM IN VENEZUELA, 1857 — CIRCLE IN CARACAS. 

'^ jfuly 2T). — The circle met, without any visitor present, the medium being influenced 
by General Bolivar. He made a cross on the table, and a shepherd's crook ; then, pointing 
three times in the direction of the archbishop's palace, and three times in the direction of 
the president's house, he spoke of the opposition of the church to the great truths being de- 
veloped to mankind ; - but, said he, the bishop cannot resist this great principle 

"Spiritualism is now progressing rapidly in the United States, also in Caracas, and 
nothing can impede its progress. The table rose twice, indicative of the rising of our faith. 

" yiify 27. — The circle met ; the table was carried into a corner and turned over on the 
floor ; and being taken back, it moved again to the same place and tipped over ; and this 
was performed five times, without our being able to imagine the cause. The medium being 
influenced, he pointed to the corner indicated and said, ' In that place is interred the remains 
of five friars, four Franciscan and one Dominican ; their names will be given to the circle 
at another time, and the truth can be ascertained by referring to the records of the church 
of San Francisco. The spirits of the five friars are all present at this circle [the circle was 
sitting near where the altar of a church formerly stood] 

^^ July 28. — The medium being influenced by the spirit of the vicar-general. Doc- 
tor Cordova, he spoke at large. Pointing in the direction of the archbishop's palace, he 
said : ' The scarlet robe, the tinsels, tassels, gold and diamonds shall perish and crumble into 
dust, and the archbishop shall fall. Oh ! how much good he could do if he would investi- 
gate this divine principle and give it his countenance. How spirits would rejoice ; but alas ! 
his position in the church prevents him. He will believe, yea, he does believe, but unfor- 
tunately is precluded from manifesting his belief. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 473 

" Coming to Caracas as a missionary in the spiritual cause, with but little hope of success, 
and finding but one person who had previously visited a circle, I added two others, and wa 
commenced our sittings. One who joined as an unbeliever soon became developed as a 
seeing, speakmg, and rapping medium. I have been assiduous in the cause, instructmg 
the living and assisting departed souls to rise from darkness to light ; and my labor is riot 
without its fruits. Many have come to assure me that tln'ough my instructions and advice 
tliey have ascended to the second sphere from their dismal abode. Some, through the 
spirit manifestations, have been convinced of the immortality of the soul, who did not be- 
lieve it before, and have become Christians, and we have had a great and glorious revival 
from spirit revelation. Hundreds of families have their spiritual tables in operation, con- 
versing with their departed friends; and in almost every case they receive as Correct an- 
swers as they could through the best developed medium. Every mind is inquiring wha*" 
this new principle is, and it is the theme of conversation in eyeiy family. 

"Seth Driggs. 

" Caracas, August 4, 1856." 

From the above fragments, some idea can be formed of the degree to which 
■ pecnhar opinions and idiosyncrasies in the media or their local surroundings, 
influence the character of the communications. 

From the same source we have an account of circles held at sea, and the 
methods in which certain media claim to be instrumental in promoting the 
progress of undeveloped spirits. 

"SPIRITUAL CIRCLES ON THE OCEAN. 

" On board the schooner ^ y. L. Boivman,^ Captain Wooster, on a voyage from New 
York to Laguayra. 

" Caracas, September 10, 1S57. 

" Aicgust II, 1857. — Having in my hand, reading, a Spiritual Telegraph, I asked the 
captain to put his hand on the table, when it was promptly moved. I asked if the spirit 
present knew what paper I was reading, when an affirmative answer was given. I called 
the title of several papers, and when the Telegraph was mentioned, three tips of the table 
were given, mdicating that to be the paper. ' Have you been reading the Telegraph with 
me ? ' ' Yes.' After this I held a circle every evening, commencing at simset, on the deck 
of the vessel. 

" August 12. — The spirit of a sailor appeared, as he declared himself to be ; and being 
interrogated, said he took pleasure in boarding vessels at sea, to see what was going on ; 
that he was in the dark spheres, and desired to progress to higher and brighter ones. I 
admonished him, and gave the usual advice and instruction, which he promised to obey. , 

'^August 1 8. — The spirit of Jose Manual Graw identified itself; he was a lawyer in 
Cumana; he trusted his ultimate salvation to the priest and absolution; but on making 
the exchange of worlds, found such a presumption on- the part of the Roman priesthood to 
be erroneous ; he was consigned to the second sphere, where he stiU remains. 

" On being asked how he came to seek me out on the ocean, he said that he knew I was 
a Spiritualist by the spiritual papers I sent to Cumana, which he had read there. He had 
sought me out to hold communion with me. 

'^ A.iigicsi 19. — An old lady identified herself as the wife of Buenaventura Dominguez, whom 
I knew twenty-seven years ago in LaguajTa. She said she died at the age of seventy-one 
years, at Rio Caribes, in tlie pro\dnce of Cumana, and was in the fomlh sphere ; that her 
husband had subsequently died, and was in the third sphere ; that the spiritual papers I 
sent to Rio Caribes, which she heard read, induced her to come and see me 

" Augiist 21. — A spirit purporting to be the daughter of the Hon. Charles Warner, At- 
torney-General at the Island of Trinidad, appeared at the circle, and, on being interrogated, 
said she never Imew me; that her father received a spiritual pamphlet from me, by which 
she knew I was a Spuitualist, and had sought me out to hold communion with the eailh; 



474 HISTORY OF MODERN 

that she was happy in the fourth sphere. On the same evening, appeared the spirit of a 
daughter of Pedro Espinoso, also of the Island of Trinidad. She said her father had 
received from me a spiritual pamphlet, by which reason she had sought to hold communion 
with me ; that she was in the sixth sphere. 

'^August 26. — A spirit manifested itself; said it was from a dark sphere. I asked if it 
came to obtain advice, and desired to be restored to light and happiness. It said ' No.' On 
being further interrogated, it said, it was a man ; had made the exchange of worlds at the 
age of twenty-seven years, and that was nineteen years ago ; that he neither believed in God 
nor in heaven ; that he believed in the Devil ; that he was sent to prevent the spirits from 
the dark spheres coming to the circle for advice, as by that means they would escape from 
the dark spheres. I advised him to repent and be saved; to change his miserable abode, and 
seek favor from the God of tri¥th and love, and be eternally happy. He answered in the 
negative. I then commanded him in God's name to depart, which order he obeyed. 

^^ August 27. — The same spirit took possession of the table, and said his object was to 
prevent communications with other spirits, when I commanded him to depart. Soon after 
the table was tipped again ; on inquiry it was said a spirit of the third sphere was present ; but 
after a few questions, I discovered the deception, and challenged the spirit as to whccher he 
was a truthful spirit. He answered, ' No ; ' that he v/as the same 'spirit who appeared the 
previous evening. I asked him why he came with a lie in his mouth. He said that was 
his profession, and I commanded him again to depart. Again the table was tipped; and on 
inquiry the spirit said he was a relative of one present, and inhabited the seventh sphere. 
On inquiry as to his family, etc., he was detected as a lying spirit, and, being challenged, 
said he was the same spirit I had twice driven away that night. I inquired of him about 
his master, the Devil; he said he was the Devil himself, and had been four thousand years 
In darkness. Many questions were asked, and prompt answers were given. When any 
question suited his taste, he gave a shake of the table, indicating that he was laughing. 
Finding there was no use m driving him away, and as we were approaching the harbor of 
Laguayra, he was left to enjoy the victory he had gained in keeping possession of the 
table. 

"It is a source of great satisfaction to me to find that by the little leaven I put into the 
meal of a dark-minded and superstitious people two years ago, the whole is fast becoming 
leavened. Several spiritual circles, formed by the most intellectual men of Caracas, ar-e in 
successful operation. Four different pamphlets have been issued from the press by native 
Spiritualists, containing their convictions and experiences in Spiritualism ; the last has just 
been issued and distributed gratuitously by Dr. Michelena, a professor of medicine in the 
college of Caracas. The doctor remarks that it is imputed to magnetism, but magnetism 
can not make the table talk. 

" For my part, I have not ceased in the good work. Whether on the mountain top, the 
scorching plain, or on the ocean wave, I call around me those who are willing to be in- 
structed, and point out the way for them to enjoy the blessings of those mansions eternal in 
the heavens, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 

"Seth Driggs." 



For the sake of giving in this history every phase of the spirittial move- 
ment, we reprint extracts from Mr. Driggs' s diary; but, whilst cordially in- 
dorsing his sincerity, and vouching for the genuine character of the mani- 
festations he records, we have no sufhcient evidence as y^X. to base a 
reliable theory on the philosophy involved in his communications. They 
must be received rather as specimens of the spiritual existence, which is still 
held in thrall by the influence of a Roman Catholic atmosphere, than as a 
type of the spheres whose numerical positions are so accurately indicated. 

Before closing our account of the zeal with which, for many years, Seth 
Driggs, the editor of El Spiritualiste, labored for the advancement of the 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 475 

cause, we must notice how his good service was received by those ecclesias. 
tical magnates to whom the sphits at his seances made such frequent allusions. 
In the fall of 1857, there appeared a document which was widely circu- 
lated tln-oughout Venezuela, and other portions of Central America, of which 
the following is the style and title : 

" We, Doctor John Hilary Beset, by the Grace of God and of the Holy Apostolic See, 
Bishop of Merida and Maracaibo : To our venerable clergy and the rest of the fait Jifitl 

of our Diocese, greeting and benediction. 

"'But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false 
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord 
that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.' — St. Peter, II. ii. i. 

" When we read in the El Catolicisimo, published at Bogota, that the sect of Spiritualists, 
this new monster let loose from the lower regions to attack the religion of Jesus Christ, had 
unfurled its banner in our contuient, and especially in Caracas, the capital of our republic, 
we could do nothing less than apprehend the defection it might create amongst the faithful 
placed under our charge. More sore still is our affliction at this movement, on beholding 
the impudence with wh'ich they have dared to transmit to us by last post a printed pamphlet 
styled : ' Spiritualism, or Manifestations made by the Spirits of the Celestial Spheres; with 
instructions how to communicate with the spirits of the departed. With an extract of the 
manifestations made by the spirits of the central circle of Caracas. By Seth Driggs. With an 
Appendix;' — and thus also, Nos. 1 and 2, of the El Spiritnaliste, the seals of which en- 
graved upon the covers appear to be by the same author, and hence we have reasons to 
stand aghast at the spread already of these pernicious writings, throughout the wide circuit 
of our diocese. 

" Without pretending to inquire what was the object of the person in addressing these 
writings to us, we still cannot but lament the aberration of the human mind in embracing 
the new religious sect which Protestantism has vomited forth in its agony to fascinate with 
the mystery of darloiess, and the cunning of the serpent, the minds of the thoughtless and 
novelty seekers 

" It has appeared to us impossible, beloved diocesans, that persons of sound judgment 
could believe in the supposed revelations of the spirits that manifest themselves through 
instruments so unsuitable as turning tables. Therefore, we repeat, it seems to us impossible 
that credit can be given by any sensible person to all the jargon and nonsense of said writ- 
ings, which contain nothing substantial or real. 

" It matters not, however, in what way such an mvention is considered. It will always 
have for its author the father of lies ; it will always be in antagonism to the creed of our 
Holy Mother, the Church; it will always stain the purity of Christian morals; .and, conse- 
quentl}', should be spurned and looked upon with horror by all the faithful who wish to 
remain in the true faith and wi-estle manfuUy against the artifices of heresy." 

It will be percieved from the last passages that the reverend shepherd not 
only pronounces against the communications of Seth Driggs' spirits, but 
undertakes to define what such "an invention " will always be ; to wit, 
" always have for its author the father of lies," etc. Unwittingly, however, 
he communicated ' some, excellent facts concerning the progress of the said 
heresy, alluding to its manifestations in Germany thus : 

"Such is the opinion of Cardinal Reisach, Bishop of Germany, respecting these turning 
tables and the supposed revelations through which persons of distinction have yielded 
themselves up to such a dangerous curiosity ; the last few months we have passed among 
you have been of bitterness and pain. We say it with all the affliction that the Catholic 
religion inspires. These writings, supremely deplorable, do not come from God, since they 
contradict the doctrmes of the Church ; they are a web of deceptions, errors, and supersU- 
tions ; and those who engage in such puislications ought to be excluded from the church, unless 



47^ HISTORY OF MODERiV 

they obey her by abandoning the infernal works that they had undertaken. Those who 
read and believe in such communications, and speak and write in defence of tliem, or in 
any other way countenance them, not only commit a most grievous sin, and become guilty 
of rebellion against the church, but also, to render their situation more deplorable, the 
absolutions they receive are null, if they do not renounce beforehand such superstitions." 

After some passages of sympathy with the afflicted shepherd of Germany, 
the reverend Hilary goes on to show that the Bible, in all its declarations, but 
especially in the writings of Moses and St. Paul, is death on Spiritualism ; and 
in confirmation of this he cites numbers of passages from these authors, 
which the impudent El Spiritiialiste had with equally good effect made use 
of to prove the truth of Spiritualism. The fact that the argiunents on both 
sides took biblical authority for their widely dissevered opinions, was just as 
awkward in this case as it has proved in the instance of thousands of other 
rival beliefs, every one of whom cites biblical texts in support of their 
opinions, all and each of which evidently operate as sucessfuUy for the de- 
fence of a sect as for its downfall. 

We need scarcely remind the experienced combatant in this kind of war- 
fare that Moses and Paul prove just as much for Seth Driggs, as Bishop 
Hilary, and the latter did not gain much by quoting them or tend to the 
edification of any one able and willing to read the authors for themselves. 
The gist of the learned bishop's fears and palpitations, however, may not in- 
aptly be judged of by the sentence which follows : 

"As the communication with spirits is the foundation of the new sect; as it denies the 
existence of hell for the eternal punishment of the wicked, of heaven for the eternal glory 
of the blessed, the moment the one and the other are judged after death ; and lastly, as it 
considers the church a purely human institution that should be reformed by this new revela- 
tion, and should admit to her altars all whom she has excluded, — we shall therefore continue 
to refute these errors." 

After a long and elaborate exposition of the Scriptures to suit his pur- 
poses, arranged precisely on the same plan as Seth Driggs used to prove all 
his arguments, and from the same source, the bishop sums up by falling back 
on his own authority in the following sentences : 

"Despise those errors which we have pointed out to you as the bitter consequences of 
the insolent temerity with which some men, relying on their own wisdom, as the Holy 
Council of Trent says, have dared to interpret the sacred Scriptures, misconstruing their 
meaning to enforce erroneous opinions. Leave off reading the spiritual pamphlets and 
periodicals, because the doctrines and practices which they teach are heretical, scandalous, 
contrary to the faith and destructive of good morals, under the penalty established by law 
against those who read prohibited books or practice immoral actions. Remain closely 
united around the centre of the Catholic unity, linked within the Roman See, and in the 
person of the successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth. Be firm in the 
doctrines of the Catholic church. Listen, in her name, to the admonitions of your legiti- 
mate pastor, so that you may not pass for Gentiles and publicans, as all unfaithful and dis- 
obedient minds are who do not respect his decisions. Finally, preserve unalterable the faith 
of your forefathers, in order that this being meritorious along with the exercise of charity 
and good works, you may receive as your reward the crown of glory, which God has re- 
served for those who serve him faithfully in this life. 

"These, our letters, shall be published in all the churches of our diocese, the first holiday 
after receipt, and shall be copied in the book of government. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 477 

" Given, signed, and countersigned in our Episcopal palace of Merida, this 2d day of 
February, 1847. 

[Signed] " John Hilary, Bishop of Merida. 

"By order of the Most Illustrious and Reverened Bishop. 

[Signed] "Thomas Z'ekvk, Prebejidary Sea-etary.'' 

It is only necessary to add that the effect of this church thunder was to 
diminish the pubhc display of Spiritualism somewhat, amongst that portion 
of Bisjiop Hilary's flock who placed in his keeping the key to their thoughts, 
souls, and consciences, whilst it increased the curiosity of the-rest tenfold, 
induced a wide spirit of investigation, a rich crop of spiritual believers, some 
secession from the ranks of the dogmatical, but, effete authority of a human 
conscience keeper, and aided to plant Spiritualism in Venezuela on a footing 
which, in the private arteries of society, and especially amongst independent 
thinkers, can never be defeated by future generations of Bishop Hilarys. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

SPIRITUALISM IN SOUTH ABIERICA AND THE TERRI- 
TORIES. 

"Oft in the stilly night, when slumber's chains have bound me. 
Kind spirits, pure as light, are hov'ring gently round me." 

Psalms of Life. 

"What I am I must not show, 
What I am thou couldst not know : 
Something betwixt heaven and hell. 
Something that neither stood nor fell. 
Something that through thy wit or will, 
May work thee good, may work thee ill." 

Sir Walter Scott. 

Spirit Circles in the Territories — In the Miner's Cabin — Spiritualism in 
Oregon — Amongst the Red Indians — Eastern and Western Spiritualism 
Contrasted. 

In those vast tracts of the American Continent known as "the Territories," 
tlie belief in spirit communion, and the familiar methods of telegraphy 
through circles, is almost as common as in the thickly populated States of 
the East. 

Amongst the remote and nearly savage wilds of Idaho Territory, for ex- 
ample, circles have been quite frequently held by the miners and others, 
who, having witnessed something of Spiritualism in their far distant homes, 
deligMed to renew their communion with those beloved beings, who seemed 
to form such a precious link bet\veen the memory of dear absent, as well as 
departed, friends. 

In a mining camp formed amongst the mountains of Owhyee, one of the 
best trance mediums of the age, perhaps, was to be found in the person of a 
JVIr. Wilson, a young man of feeble health and frail, sensitive temperament. 
Mr. Wilson, becoming attached to one of the explorers in these wild regions, 
succeeded in locating for his friend some valuable silver "leads" through 



478 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

Spirit guidance, besides protecting himself and party from dangers innumer- 
able. In times of sickness, peculiar to those trying scenes of pioneer life, 
Mr. Wilson was influenced by a wise and beneficent doctor to administer 
such remedies as were special to the country, and rapidly curative in their 
effects. 

The invaluable service that such gifted persons can render in such scenes, 
cannot be overestimated, and, in Mr. Wilson's case, stimulated the miners to 
hold circles in every direction, and resulted in planting Spiritualism firmly in 
thhse wilds, and in developing many excellent mediums. Always corres- 
ponding, in some degree, with the character of its surroundings, especially in 
respect to soil and climate, mediumship in those mining lands seemed to be 
chiefly directed towards the discovery of metallic "leads," and like certain of 
the Mexicans famous for this gift, the mediums of the Territories became pe- 
culiarly successful in locating mines, as well as in perceiving spiritually the 
quality of healing herbs and valuable mineral springs. 

They were touching, yet singular scenes to look upon — the mining camps 
- — on a pleasant autumnal night, when the day's toil was ended, the evening 
meal consumed, and a few lonely men, with semi-barbarous and pseudo-civil- 
ized exteriors, lay stretched around the pine or brush fires, lighted to dissipate 
the chill efi^ects of the thickly descending dews, and scare off the savage 
dwellers of the neighboring caves and forests. There they lay beneath the 
light of the quiet stars, dreamily looking mto the shining eyes of heaven, or 
gazing fixedly on one of those fiery blossoms of the skies, thinking of the far- 
away beloved ones, who might be gazing at the same object at that very same 
moment of time ; eye-beams and thoughts meeting, yet loving hearts and out- 
stretched hands severed by such vast and almost illimitable wastes of earth ! 

The past, vrith its tender regretful memories; the present, with its awful 
solitude, intense loneliness, and almost utter desolation ; the future, with its 
dim uncertainties, remote hopes, ever crowding fears, and heavy toil ! 

Such thoughts as these too often occupy the minds of such exiles ; but as 
they muse, suddenly the silence is broken by a low tap, tap, sounding in muf- 
fled yet distinct tones upon the rough pine bench that serves them for a table. 
In an instant all is changed — they listen breathlessly; again those lov/ muf- 
fled sounds are heard, responded to by the eager cry, " The spirits are come ! " 
Then they spring to their feet, sweep off in haste and partial shame the cards, 
cups, and bottles with which the table is garnished, carefully wipe it clean, 
hastily arrange themselves on rough wooden stools around it, and spread out 
their toil-blistered hands upon its surface, whilst one of their party, clearing 
his throat, leads off in a SAveet, manly tone, ringing like a Bethlehemite hymn in 
the still night air, with an old famihar " song of Zion." Before the first strain 
is ended, every voice has joined in the rough but harmonious chorus, and ere 
the hymn is done, the table is rocking with mysterious intelligence, and the 
rythm of the air is beat by a viewless knocker, with that intelligent precision 
that assures them the vast solitudes are peopled with invisible but tenderly 
sympathetic witnesses. And then commences the interchange of question 
and answer, so full of news of home, absent friends, old acquaintances, ■prom- 
ise and prophecy, hope, warning, kind encouragement, and holy aspiration. 

These are the moments that transform those desert wastes of earth into an 
angel-peopled heaven, and plant the blossoms of pure love and holy friendship 
in place of the noisome weeds which bear the evil fruit of gambling, drinking, 
fevered rage, intoxicated madness, and not unfrequently, red-handed murder. 
Such is the effect of the spirit circle upon the miner that it converts this most 
lawless and desperate of human beings into a gentle, aspiring, and holy man. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 479 

And such are some of the uses of Spiritualism in these wild western terri- 
tories. 

Many of the "cities" or central points, where embryo states are already 
seed-like planted, have been visited by mediums, taking the long and perilous 
journey over the plains, in preference to the ocean route to California. Mr. J. 
V. Mansfield, Mrs. C. M. Stowe, and Mrs. Laura de Force Gordon, the two last 
eminently distinguished as trance speakers, have each passed over this route, 
and done much to illuminate the darkness of the desert with their inspired ut- 
terances and glad tokens of spirit presence. And thus, amidst earth's wildest 
wastes and desert places, the mighty hosts of spirits' marching feet are heard, 
and altars are already erected for the worship of that God who "is a spirit." 

Those Americans who have visited the singular dAvellers of the desert, call- 
ing themselves " Latter Day Saints," or "Mormons," report that phenomenal 
gifts are abundantly poured out upon them, though their methods of invoking 
spiritual aid and presence differ from those of the Eastern States. Amongst 
the " Mormons " resident in California and Nevada, many excellent spirit 
mediums are to be found, especially in the direction of prophecy and healing. 
They claim that these gifts are communicable by the old apostolic mode of 
laying on of hands, and affirm that they have received their gifts from the im- 
position of hands on the part of their "elders." 

In British Columbia, Spiritualism partakes of the same erratic spontaneity 
as that manifested in the Territories and mountain mining camp ; but in the ; 
large cities and villages of Oregon, the communion exhibits the same phases, 
and has passed through much the same experiences, as those which character- 
ize other States of the Union. 

.Many distinguished mediums are to be found in Oregon; and one from the 
town of Portland, a Mrs. Butler, visiting San Francisco, displayed gifts of me- 
diumship in the direction of test, trance, and clairvoyance, not excelled by 
any in America. The method of control exierted in the case of Mrs. Butler, 
was somewhat peculiar. She Avas generally influenced by the spirit of a poor 
boy calling himself " Jack," who, it seemed, had lived a few years on earth, a 
friendless, homeless, vagabond life, unclaimed by kindred, and untrained by 
kindness. Yet this poor forsaken lad was endowed with so much native 
goodness of heart, kindness of disposition, and apt wit, that when he entered 
the spirit-world, forced out of the mortal form by neglect and destitution, he 
became an apt scholar of kind ministering spirits, and was trained to fulfil his 
broken earthly mission, and live out his mortal destiny by performing the part 
of a "medium spirit," in the new and beautiful communion between the two 
worlds. When influencing "his medium," as he called Mrs. Butler, he dis- 
played many of the characteristics of his earthly career, but withal so much 
of shrewd intelligence derived from his improved condition in the spheres, 
that he was a universal favorite at Mrs. Butler's circles, where, entranced by 
him, she would move around amongst her sitters and accurately describe their 
spirit friends, repeat their histories, anecdotes of their earth-lives ; give a great 
variety of ingenious tests of identity, and often end by diagnosing and pre- 
scribing for the various complaints of those who surrounded her. 

Besides this excellent medium, Oregon was favored with many others of 
rare endowments and valuable phenomenal powers. Mr. W. G Lawson, a 
lawyer residing in the city of Salem, in writing to the Banner of Light, in 
i860, thus describes the character of Spirituahsm in Oregon : 

"Oregon for many years "has been developing mediums, and distributing the literature of 
Spiritualism. I estimate the number of Spiritualists at about one-fifth of the population 



48o HISTORY OF MODERN 

that can vote. There are two societies in the State doing well. But our greatest progi-ess 
is in private circles. I venture to state it as a fact, that every one, once kno^\^^ as a free- 
thinker, and all who do not belong to some orthodox church, are now confirmed Spiritual- 
ists 

" There is more individuality of pui^pose and character here than in older places. Every 

one thinks for himself. Crossing the wide plains seems to have widened the vision 

God is no longer seen so small as he looked from the family pew in the old church corner at 
home in the old states. The orthodox ministers of this State do not meet with much suc- 
cess in attempting to stem the tidal wave which bears onward the new faith. Tliey rely 
upon scaring their flocks with the cry of ''Ware Devil !' but men and women who have 
escaped the savages, or braved the perils of the plains, or the great seas, can no longer be 

frightened by the hootings of owls, or spiritual "bugaboos." In this city 

of Salem, a society called the " Friends of Progi^ess" was organized last summer with about 
eighty members. It holds meetings every Sunday evening at the court house. Lecturers 
are selected from amongst the members, and, so far, we have had splendid lectures right from 
amongst ourselves, and discovered talents unsuspected before." 

A Still more encouraging account of Spiritualism in Oregon was published 
in ih^ Banner of Light iox 1867, written by a Mr. C. A. Reed, a well-known 
and esteemed Spiritualist of Salem, who speaks of the cause as follows : 

" Many years ago, say in 1853, the seeds of Spiritualism were sown here, and manifesta- 
tions occurred all over the country To-day I may venture to affirm that 

nearly one-half the people are believers in the essential doctrines of Spiritualism. " . . . . 

Mr. Reed then goes on to speak of the usual opposition which the progress of 
the cause called forth from the bigoted and ignorant, especially in the ranks of 
the press and clergy. He also speaks most enthusiastically of the impetus which 
the faith received from the visit and lectures of several distinguished Eastern 
speakers, amongst whom he makes honorable mention of Mr. Benjamin 
Todd, a brave eloquent and fearless lecturer, and Mr. C. M. Stowe, whose 
welcome ministrations called forth many grateful and affectionate testimoni- 
als from the citizens of Oregon, amongst whom the sweet little lady won 
golden opinions. ■• 

Mrs. Ada Hoyt Foye, the celebrated test rapping medium, also visited 
Oregon, and brought hundreds of sceptics into the faith by her wonderful and 
convincing public tests, through rappings and the selection of ballots, etc. 

Dr. Bryant, the renowned healer by the imposition of hands, also visited 
Oregon ; and we cannot omit quoting Mr. Reed's account of his valuable 
ministrations in that State : 

" Dr. J. _P. Bryant, the wonderful healer, has also been here. I will not undertake to 
enumerate all the remarkable cures wrought during his few days' visit in Salem. 

"From the moment of his arrival until his departure, his office was thronged with the 
sick, many of whom were cured and all benefited." 

Mr. Reed here sets forth a list of the cures effected by Dr. Bryant, together 
with a description of the parties and tlteir maladies, also with the names of 
several witnesses ; but we must reserve these details for a future Avork 
on "healing mediums." 

We consider it a part of our history, however, to quote the following noble 
record, which tells its own story, of the benevolent operator and his great 
spiritual gift: 

"In behalf of the ladies' benevolent society' of the 'friends of progress,' we beg leave to 
tender to Dr. Bryant our sincere thanks for kindly donating to this society the entire pro- 
ceeds of a collection taken at the close of his able lecture, delivered at the court house, m 
this city (Salem) last Friday evening; and we would assure the doctor, that our best wishes, 
will ever attend his beneficent labors in healing the sick, causing the blind to see, the deaf 



AMERICAN- SPIRITUALISM. 481 

to hear, and the lame to v/alk ; and may heaven's richest blessings be as abundant, as his 
deeds of charity have been wide and universal to earth's afflicted children. 

[Signed] 

"Mrs. L. Reed, \ 

Mrs. J. E. Clark, |- Committee. 
Miss L. E. Moore, ) 
Mrs. Landlette, Secretary. 
" Salem, Oregon, September, 1867." 

Before closing our account of Spiritualism in these remote parts of the 
new world, a few sketches of the movement in connection with the unfortunate 
and now fast disappearing tribes of the "aboriginal" people of the 
American continent, may not be deemed out of place. 

Their destiny, it is not our purpose to treat of Mysterious in their origin, 
inscrutable in their relation to that supreme, and so called "overruling" 
"justice" that seems to have sanctioned the enormous wrongs they have 
sustained, — it is certain that such wrongs can only end in their utter degra- 
dation and final disappearance from the face of the earth. And yet, the 
light which has revealed the mysterious issues of human destiny, and rent the 
veil in twain which once hid from man the glorious realities of immortal life, 
proves to us, that all which human cruelty and wanton injustice can perpe- 
trate against the unhappy red man, is limited to the fleeting moments of earthly 
existence. Here, and here alone, the white man triumphs. It is different 
"over there." The motives, the opportunities, and the use which each one 
has made of the highest light which each one has been gifted with, iiTCspective 
of color, race, or artificial culture, — these will determine the status of the 
white conquerer and the red victim, and Spiritualism proves it. 

From the spheres, in this new dispensation, the white man and the red 
alike can and do return to earth. They come on a mission of ministry 
common to both ; and it is a glorious indication of the bright transfiguration 
which death effects in our human weaknesses and vices, to find that the red 
man, whose highest earthly virtue is revenge, and who, according to the 
short-sighted policy of human calculations, might reasonably be expected to 
return in the spirit of an avenger for the intolerable wrongs his race has 
endured, almost invariably performs, in the modern spiritual movement, the 
high and blessed function of the beneficent Healer. He who has been vio- 
lently thrust out of life by the ruthless hand of his conqueror, comes back 
heaping coals of fire on his enemy's head, by deeds of mercy, and inspira- 
tions of love, kindness, blessings, and healing. 

Indian spirits play a prominent and most noble part in the Spiritualism 
of America. Nearly every medium is attended by one of these beneficent 
beings, guiding, counselling, protecting them, and using their peculiar knovv'l- 
edge of herbs, plants, and earthl)^ productions, to suggest rare and invalua- 
ble medicaments for the cure of disease. What a comment on the princi- 
ples and practices of Christianity does this phase of Spiritualism present ! 
Hapless ignorant beings, nay, whole tribes, that have been despoiled and 
cheated by Christian cupidity, out of land, home, and life itself, now seem to 
be the most prominent of all the returning spirits, in practically illustrating the- 
lesson which the Cliristians so glibly teach and so wantonly falsify by their 
deeds, namely, to "overcome evil with good," and forgive those who know 
not what they do. It is one of the strangest and ijiost instructive of les- 
sons — this relation between the white man and the spirit of his "savage 
victim." 

The Indian mocks the Christian missionary, by scornfully repudiating 
31 



482 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

the gentle theories of Christianity, and urges the teachings of his forefathers, 
which deem vengeance for injuries the virtue of the brave ; but no sooner 
does he become a spirit, than he practically adopts the neglected duties of 
true Christianity, and by deeds of love and mercy shows the white man how 
to prove the truth of his creed. Death is in his case the angel of transfigu- 
ration. We have denied him all rights and privileges in his and our father's 
heritage on earth : what mortal hand can bar him out of the kingdom of 
heaven, to which we may not unduly affirm he has pressed in before us? 
We repeat, that among the healing mediums, Indian spirits are ever deemed 
the most sucessful of operators. Doubtless the nomadic and simply natural 
life which these poor children of the forest lived on earth, has instructed 
them in the peculiar virtues and manifold forms of healing balm that the 
earth generates in her bosom. 

Besides these healing spirits, it appears that many of the once powerful 
and renowned chiefs amongst the redmen, delight to work out a new and beau- 
tiful mission for themselves, in guarding and protecting the toiling mediums 
through whom the truths of Spiritualism are disseminated. They attend the 
circles also, and perform vast feats of physical strength, for -which it is alleged 
their strong magnetic spiritual bodies are eminently fitted. 

Thus "Black Hawk," "Osceola," " King PhiHp," " Red Jacket," "Logan," 
and other renowned "braves" are familiarly known as the leaders of spirit 
bands at circles, where the most wondeful phenomena and shrewd intelli- 
gence have been exhibited under their influence. The services rendered by 
those spirits to their media, would in many instances form a touching and 
remarkable history of occult power and beneficence. 

To the warnings, guidance, and protection of a mighty war spirit calling 
himself "Arrow-head the terrible," the author has been indebted for services 
only to be comprehended by those who have experienced a similar spiritual 
guardianship. 

Amongst our future records of phenomena, mediumship, and spirit healing, 
several instances of Indian Spiritualism will be found, but the tithe of this 
truly Christian ministry cannot be told. Many noble and distinguished In- 
dians, both male and female, claim to see and hold converse with the spirits 
of departed friends and kindred ; and the faith in immortality, and the pres- 
ence and ministry of ancestral spirits as guardians to mortals, might Avell 
put to shame the cold and unfaithful materialism, even of many professing 
churchmen. 

But there is another view of Indian Spiritualism, and a darker side to the 
picture, which it is equally instructive and necessary to consider ; and this we 
shall now present to the reader, with all the candor the subject requires. 
Whilst it is admitted that individuals, no less than whole tribes of this aborig- 
inal people, profess to hold communion with the spirits of the departed, 
there is a still wider field of Indian Spiritualism occupied by beings of 
an unknown and doubtful character, and mixed up with rites and phenomena 
of a strange, occult, and repulsive character. . 

The red Indian invokes other spirits than the souls of ancestors, and his 
history bears witness of phenomena which find no parallel or analogy 
amongst the records of modern Spiritualism. The poems of Bryant, '\\^"iittier, 
and Longfellow, contain vivid descriptions of the spiritual faith of the red In- 
dian, and the " Hiawatha' of the latter especially, abounds with elaborate 
descriptions of the belief and practices of the Indian in reference to Spirit- 
ualism. 

The following matter-of-fact details are at once the most complete and 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 483 

authoritative we can select from a vast amount of testimony on this interesting 
subject. 

The author has in her o^ra. experience reahzed the correctness of the writer's 
descriptions, but as his narrative is a personal one, and he himself is a gentle- 
man for whose truthfulness and integrity we can fully vouch, we prefer to 
quote his own words, than mar the history by changing the form of its simple 
and graphic details. The naiTative was ^^Titten by Alexander Henr}^, Avho was 
made a captive at the massacre of the garrison at Macinac, during the French 
and Indian wars of 1759, ^^"^ ^^ taken from a work on Indian captivity, by 
Drake. The scene took place at the Saidt St. Marie., where a message had 
just been received from Sir William Johnson, inviting the Indians to Fort 
Niagara, to conclude a peace. 

" The occasion was one of too much magnitude to be trusted to the decision of mere 
human knowledge and discretion, hence preparations were made for solemnly invoking and 
consulting the Great Turtle. The first thing to be done, was the building of a large house, 
or wigwam, within which was placed a species of tent for the use of the priest, and recep- 
tion of the spirit. The tent was formed of moose-skins, hung over a framework of wood. 
Five poles, of different species of timber, about ten feet high, and eight inches in diameter, 
were set in a circle of about four feet in diameter. The holes made to receive them were 
about two feet deep, and the pillars being set, the holes were filled up again with the earth 
which had been dug out. At top, the pillars were bound together with a circular hoop or 
girder. Over the whole of this edifice, by way of roof, were spread moose-skins, covering it 
at top and around the sides, and made fast with thongs of the same, except on one side where 
a part was left unfastened to permit the entrance of the priest. The ceremonies did not 
commence until the approach of night. To give light within the house, several fires were 
kindled around the tent. Nearly the whole village assembled in the house, myself amongst 
the rest. 

"It was not long before the priest appeared, almost in a state of nudity. As he ap- 
proached the tent, the skins were lifted up so as to permit of his entrance, which he effected 
by creeping in on his hands and knees. His head was scarcely inside, when the edifice 
massy and firmly built, as it has been described, began to shake, and the skins were no 
sooner let fall, than the sounds of numerous voices were heard beneath them ; some yelling, 
some barking like dogs, some howling like wolves ; and in this horrible concert were mingled 
screams and sobs, as of despair, anguish, and the sharpest pain. 

"Articulate speech was also uttered as if from human lips, but in a tongue unknown to 
any of the audience. After some time these confused and frightful noises were succeeded 
by a deathlike stillness, and now a voice not heard before, manifested the arrival of a new 
character in the tent. This was a low and feeble voice, resembling the cry of a young 
puppy. The sound was no sooner distinguished, than all the Indians clapped their hands 
for joy, exclaiming that this was the chief spirit, the Turtle, 'the spirit that never lied.' 
Other voices, which they had distinguished from time to time, they had previously hissed, 
recognizing them as belonging to evil and lying spirits which deceive mankind. New sounds 
came from the tent. During the space of half an horn:, a succession of songs were heard, in 
which a diversity of voices met the ear. 

"From his first entrance tiH these songs were finished, we heard nothing in the proper 
voice of the priest ; but now he addressed the multitude, announcing the presence of the 
Great Turtle, and the spirit' s readiness to answer to such questions as were proposed. The 
questions were to come from the chief of the village, who was silent, however, until he had 
put a large quantity of tobacco into the tent, introducing it into the aperture. This was 
a sacrifice offered to the spirit, for spirits are supposed by the Indians to be as fond of 
tobacco as themselves. The tobacco accepted, he desired the priest to inquire whether 
or not the English were preparing to make war upon the Indians, and whether or not 
there were at Fort Niagara a large number of English troops. 



484 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

" These questions having been put by the priest, the tent instantly shook, and for some 
minutes after, it continued to work so violently that I expected to see it levelled with the 
ground. 

" A.11 this was a prelude, as I supposed, to the answers to be given, but a terrific cry an- 
nounced with sufficient intelligibility the departure of the Great Turtle. A quarter of an 
hour elapsed in silence, and I waited impatiently to see what would be the next incident of the 
scene. It consisted in the return of the spirit, whose voice was again heai-d, and who now 
delivered a continued speech. The language of the Great Turtle like that which we had 
heard before, was wholly unintelligible to every ear, that of the priest excepted, and it was 
not, therefore, until the latter gave us an interpretation, which did not commence until the 
spirit finished, that we learned the purpose of this extraordinary communication. The 
spirit, as we were now informed by the priest, had, duritig his absence, crossed Lake Huron, 
and proceeded to Fort Niagara, thence to Montreal. At Fort Niagara he had not seen 
many soldiers, but, on descending the St. Lawrence to Montreal, he had found the river ful 
of boats filled with soldiers, in numbers like the leaves of the trees. He had met them on 
their way up the river coming to make war with the Indians. The chief asked again. If 
the Indians visit Sir William Johnson, will they be received as friends?' The spirit's 
answer, interpreted by the priest, was, "Sir William Johnson will fill their canoes with 
presents; blankets, kettles, gims, powder, shot, and large barrels of rum, such as the 
stoutest Indian cannot carry, and every man will return to his house in safety. ' 

"At this the transport was universal, and amidst a loud clap^Ding of hands eveiy voice 
exclaimed, ' I will go, I will go too ! ' 

" Questions of public interest having been resolved, individuals were now permitted to in- 
quire for absent friends and the fate of those who were sick. Amid the general inquisitiveness, 
I yielded to my own anxiety for the future, and having first, like the rest, made a present of 
tobacco, I inquired whether I would ever again revisit my native country. 

"The tent shook as usual, and the question beuig put by the priest, was answered from 
the spirit thus : That I should take courage and fear no danger ; nothing would happen 
to hurt me and I should in the end reach my friends and country in safety. 

"The Great Turtle continued to be consulted till near midnight, when the crowd 
dispersed to their respective lodges. I was on the strict watch during the scene I have 
described, to detect the particular contrivance by which it was effected, but I came 
away wholly unable to discover anything. " 

The result of the expedition is stated in Drake's history to have confirmed 
in every particular the promises made by the " spirit that never lied." A 
note attached to this account by the writer, informs us that M. DeCham- 
plain has written an account of a similar expedition to the one described, 
which may be seen in Charlevoix's Histoire de la ATouvelle F?'a?ice. 

This scene took place amongst the Algonquins and Hurons. Carver, 
the Indian traveller, witnessed a similar one among the Christinaux. In each 
case the general features are the same. 

The following is an account furnished to the Telegraph papers by Governor 
Tallmadge. It is a letter from his friend the distinguished scholar, jurist, 
and writer, Chief Justice Larrabee, of Wisconsin. 

Judge Larrabee is an earnest and honored Spiritualist, hence Governor 
Tallmadge felt no scruple in making extracts from his correspondence for 
the benefit of a spiritual paper. 

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM CHIEF JUSTICE LARRABEE, TO GO\'ERNOR TALL- 
MADGE, OF WISCONSIN. 

" I was conversing last week with Mr. John Du Bay, whom perhaps you loiow. He has 
been among the Indian tribes all his life, and was agent to the American Fur Co. for many 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 485 

years. He told me some facts, which show that converse with beings of another world has 
been very common among the Indians. He said that on several different occasions, he had 
seen a ' medicine-man ' construct three lodges, by placing poles in the ground and then, cover- 
ing them with deer-skins, forming smaU tents or wigwams which would just contam one 
person in a sitting posture. These tents were placed about two rods apart ; in one the 

* medicine-man ' placed his moccasins, in another his leggings, and got into the middle one 
himself. Then any Indian who wished to converse with a departed ' brave ' would ask his 
questions ; immediately the three lodges would commence swaying from side to side, as if 
shaken by some one from within, and voices would be heard issuing from one or other, and 
often from all three lodges at the same time. 

" These sounds were only intelligible to the 'medicine-man,' who would undertake to 
translate them. Du Bay says that he has taken hold of these lodges frequently, and exerted 
all his strength to stop their motions, but in vain ; that he has then lifted the skins, and 
ascertained that there was no one inside to cause their motions 

"Du Bay also related to me some instances of clairvoyant power exercised by those 
medical men. He, many years ago, arrived at a trading post on the head waters of the 
Wisconsin, and expected to meet there another trader from a more Northern post on Lake 
Superior. He waited several days in vain, when a 'medicine-man' proposed to ascertain 
when he would arrive. Seating himself on the ground, he covered his head with his blanket, 
and after remaining there for some minutes, arose and said : ' To-morrow the clouds wiU 
cover the sky, but when the sun is about to set, you will see a clear space, and in it the sun. 
Then, if you will look at yonder point of land, on the opposite side of the lake, you wUlsee 
the trader coming.' The next day was, as predicted, cloudy until sunset, when the clouds 
lifted, and the sun appeared. Du Bay watched the point indicated, but no trader was to be 
seen. He turned to the ' medicine-man ' and began to ridicule him. But the man only re- 
plied, ' I will see ;' when, sittingdo-\\m as before for a brief period, and then rising to his feet 
he said, ' In five minutes you will see him.' ' Within that time,' said Du Bay, ' the trader 
actually appeared, and soon reached the post.' 

"Judge Larrabee concludes his sketch of those Indian rites by sayiqg : 'I do not now 
recollect to have read or heard, however, that the Indian believed he should in spirit ever 
revisit his old home, and converse with those left behind.' 

The following interesting account of the famous " Wau-chus-co," is given by 
Mr. Johnson, the talented author of many valuable works on American In- 
dian life and customs, described from his own personal observations. The 
article here quoted was written for the Detroit Daily Tribune, of which 
Mr. Johnson was an esteemed correspondent : 

" In my previous letter I enumerated the different powers exercised by the Indian 

* Ches-a-kees.' In addition to those named, is the power of influencing the mhid of an In- 
dian at a distance for good or evil. This power was frequently exercised to the destruction 
of wealth, also in cases of rivalship between warriors, hunters, and lovers. They claimed 
that the influence of the mind or will, could be put upon material things, such as guns, traps, 
etc. , and it was only tlu-ough counter spiritual influences that the charm or spell could be 
dissipated. 

" The charm they used upon women was also very powerful. No young warrior was 
without his love-sack, consisting of a weasel-skin containing the love-powders prepared by 
great medicine-men. A pinch of this powder placed upon the clothes or hair of any girl 
they loved, could not be resisted. They would pine, and follow the enchanter, as gentle as 
a lamb 



486 HISTORY OF MODERN- 

" CHES-A-KEE. 

'< ViTau-chus-co was a noted Ches-a-kee, a clau-voyant, who died in the year 1S40, on 
Round Island, near Macinac. He had for ten years previous to his death led a most ex- 
emplary Christian life, and was a communicant of the Presbyterian church then on this 
island, up to the time of his death. 

"Translations of his statements respecting some portions of his life, I furnished to Mr. 
Henry Schoolcraft some years ago. 

"A short time before his death I paid him a visit. 'Come in, come in, Nosis'' [my 
gi-andson], he said. After being seated and our pipes lit, I said to him, 'Ne-me-tho-miss, 
[my grandfather], 'you are now very old and feeble, and cannot expect to live many days: 
now tell me the truth, who was it that moved your Ches-a-kee lodge, and who was it that 
spoke when you were practising your art ? ' A pause ensued, when he replied : ' N'osis, you 
bemg in part of my nation, I will tell all the truth; I know I must soon die. You must 
know that I fasted ten days when I was a young man, in compliance with a custom of my 
tribe ; and while my body was feeble from long fasting, my thinking mind, soul, or spirit in- 
ci-eased in its power. It appeared to embrace a vast extent of country in its vision. While 
I was thus thinking, animals, some of frightful shape and size, monstrous snakes, serpents, 
and birds of great variety appeared, and addressed me in human language, proposing to be 
my guardian spirits. Whilst my thinking mind embraced those various moving forms, a 
superior mtelligence directed me to select one of the bird species spirits, resembling the 
kite in looks and form. This spirit conversed with me, and told me to call upon him in 
time of need and he would aid me. Soon after, my grandmother brought me food. I arose 
and did eat. 

" 'The first time I ever Ches-a-keed, was on a war expedition. We had gone towards 
Chicago. The occasion was urgent, and our chief was afraid that our foes would attack us 
unawares, and we were also destitute of provisions. 

" ' Our chief incessantly urged me, and finally I consented. Having prepared myself, I 
entered the Ches-a-kee lodge, and the instant presence of the spirit was proved by the vio- 
lent rocking to and fro of the lodge. " Tell us ; tell us ! where are our enemies ? " cried 
the chief and war*iors. 

" ' Soon the vision of my thinking mind, or spirit, embraced a large extent of country 
which I had never seen before. Every object was plainly before me. Our enemies were 
there in their villages, unsuspicious of danger. Their acts and conversation were made 
known io me. Game abounded in another direction. All this I told. Next day we pro- 
cured food in abundance, and a few days afterwards a dozen scalps graced our return to the 
cross village. I exerted my powers frequently amongst my tribe, and to satisfy the doubt- 
ful, permitted them to tie me as they thought proper. They would sometimes place men 
in the Ches-a-kee lodge, which would then commence shaking, indicating the presence of 
the spirit. The cords with which I was tied would then drop from my limbs. Frequently 
I have seen a bright light at the opening at the top of the lodge, and strange faces were 
visible to me, The words of the spirits were audible to the spectators outside, but none 
could understand them but me. 

" 'In the year 1S15 the American garrison at this post expected a vessel from Detroit 
with supplies for the winter. A month had elapsed beyond the time of her expected 
arrival, and dreadful apprehensions were entertained of suffering and starvation, for she 
came not. 

" ' Finally, the commanding officers, through the traders, called upon me to exercise my 
art. I consented, and, after due preparation, I entered tlie Ches-a-kee lodge, which was 
surrounded by Indians and whites. I had no sooner commenced shaking my shoshegwon 
[rattle], and chanting, than the spirits arrived. The rustling noise they made through the 
air was heard, and the sound of their voices was audible to all. The spirits directed my 
thinking mind or soul toward the south end of Lake Huron, and it lay before my vision 
with its bays and islands. The atmosphere appeared hazy, like our Indian summer. My 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALIS3I. 48- 

vision terminated a little below the entrance of the St. Clair River. There lay the vessel 
disabled, and the saUors were busy in repairing her. My sensations told me that they would 
be ready in two days, and that in seven days the vessel would reach Macinac by the south 
chamiel, at that time an unusual route. I told all this to the inquirers. On the seventh 
day the vessel hove in sight by the south channel, and the captain of the schooner cor- 
roborated all I had said. 

" ' Nosis, I am now a pra}Tng Christian, and my days on earth are few ; I have told you 
all the truth. 

" • I possessed a power which I cannot explain or describe to you. I never attempted to 
move the lodge. I held commvmication with supernatural beings, or thinking minds, or 
spirits which acted upon my mind, or soul, and revealed to me such knowledge as I have 
described to you 

•' The foregoing is merely a slight sketch of the power exhibited by this remarkable and 
half-civilized Indian. " The brief biography existing of him, which has never yet come 
before the public, is both interesting and wonderful. 

" William M. Johnson. 

^'August 6, 1859." 

Such are some of the phases in which spirit communion exhibits itself 
amongst the people whom we call "savage," and whom, in comparison to 
our more advanced civilization, we may justly call so; and 3^et, does our 
knowledge of the occult and invisible forces in nature furnish us -vA^th any 
clue to the mystery of these astounding manifestations or the power b}^ 
which the unlettered "savage" can avail himself of a knowledge which all 
our control over the elements fails to compete with ? In a word, the red 
Indian can do what we can neither explain nor imitate. The few quotations, 
from most reHable authorities, which our space has allowed us to make, are 
but a tithe of the evidence which travellers amongst those people furnish us 
with, and which the author's own experience no less than that- of many of her 
personal friends, amply corroborates. The medicine and Ches-a-kee men 
here mentioned, are neither rare nor phenomenal characters, but simply rep- 
resentative men amongst their tribes and nation. And where lies the clue to 
these mysteries? It is not the results nor the value of the power here dis- 
played which arrests our attention, but the subject of deepest interest is its 
existence at all, connected, as it would seem, with a realm of being of which 
even the modern Spiritualist, in orderly communion mth the souls of his 
ancestors, can give no explanation, furnish no analogous testimony. 

The peculiar character of the force exerted by the magician, the nature, 
office, and origin of the communicating powers, whether human, anunal, supra 
or sub mundane, we cannot even speculate upon. 

We present the facts, without attempting any solution, simply adding that 
besides the experience of Judge Larrabee, Mons. Du Bay, Mr. Johnson, 
Schoolcraft, and other eminent authorities, the hardy traveller who desires 
personally to verify these statements may still do so, by visiting the tribes of 
friendly Indians west of the AUeghanies, amongst several of whom the same 
practices are frequently observed to this day. 

We know that in citing the above as instances of extraordinary phenomena, 
we lay ourselves open to challenge from the historians of iVsiatic and East 
Indian Spiritualism or magic, whose narratives of marvels performed by fa- 
keers, botke, dervishes, and other wonder-workers, would unquestionably 
throw all the occult performances of Western " spirits" into the shade, and 
make them appear, by comparison, as the sports of children pitted against the 
deeds of the Greek Hercules. All students of oriental lore must be familiar 



488 HISTORY OF MODERN 

vv^ith details of the horrible and preternatural exhibitions of " magical art," 
so often recorded and so well attested, which are performed in Africa, Asia, 
and the East Indies. 

All will admit that, whilst these narratives are given upon the most unim- 
peachable authority, — their extravagancies tax the bounds of the most elastic 
credulity, and cause the flesh to creep with horror and disgust at their mere 
recital. Feats of self-mutilation, and apparently actual dismemberment ; fire- 
eating, inhumations alive, and instantaneous restoration of dissevered parts, 
gaping wounds, and shocking mutilations, are amongst the common practices 
of the frenzied ecstatics of the East. 

These deeds have been, and still are performed under circumstances of 
authenticity, and in the presence of witnesses whose testimony it is impossi- 
ble to question. A party of these revolting exhibitors lately attempted to 
display some of their least shocking acts of "glamour," at the popular and 
fashionable St. George's Opera House, Langham Place, in the presence of a 
London audience, whose special character was secured by making the prices 
fabulously high and excluding females. 

Despite these precautions, some of the witnesses withdrew from the scene 
appalled to faintness ; and others, men of acute powers of observation, exam- 
ined closely the apparatus, clothes, and persons of the operators, and yet 
failed to discover any evidence of sleight of hand, machinery, deception, or 
oppoitunity for practicing it. 

Eventually, and after a very few exhibitions, the performances were for- 
bidden in England, on the ground that the barbarities practiced, although 
harmless in their results, were real, not illusory, and therefore could not be 
permitted in a civiHzed land. 

It is, of course, the easiest, as it is the most popular way to dispose of these and 
all other unexplained phenomena, by a rude, blank denial of their existence ; 
to cry "humbug," in the face of the most respectable authority, and "it can- 
not be," to that which is proved beyond all shadow of question to be. As 
it will be remembered that scarcely any of these frightfully preternatural cases 
of oriental Spiritualism, have been presented to the public, except by those 
who justly consider their honored names and known veracity must shield them 
from the insolent and ignorant incredulity of the uninformed, to all who at- 
tempt to dispose of the question, in the fashion of rude and illogical denial, 
we have no arguments to offer. We neither expect nor desire to convince 
them. Satisfied from the authority on which the generality of the reports are 
made, of their genuine authenticity, we have only to point to the facts, and 
suspend all judgment upon their origin, until the future developments of 
science shall unravel their mystery. Meantime, in calling attention to their 
enactments, we protest against the attempts that have been made to institute 
a comparison between them and the phenomena of modern Spiritualism. 
After a long and careful study into the nature of these Asiatic and East In- 
dian rites, we fail to perceive any analogy whatever between them and the 
control of our spirit friends ; any resemblance between the powers which the 
spirits can exert upon matter, and those exercised by or through these magii. 

In the case of the latter, we have not always the same evidence which the 
North American Indian affords of the interposition of spirits at all. The Ameri- 
can Indian always claims to act under the control of spiritual beings, although 
not of human characteristics ; but the Eastern ecstatics will frequently, when 
closely questioned, affirmthat their powers are derived from a state induced in 
their own bodies, and that when excited by music, noise, violent motion, drugs, 
or other artificial means, to the requisite degree of frenzy, their bodies yre as 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 489 

naught, or entirely under their own control ; that they can divest themselves 
of all or any portions of them, wound, maim, or otherwise injure them, and 
still, by the superior power of their spirits, when completely exalted above 
material laws, that they can control the elements with the same ease that 
electricity, airs, and other imponderables, pierce and control the pon 
derabics. 

A passive submission to the control of the invisible power, a receptive con- 
dition of mind and quiescent state of body, seem to be, on the other hand, 
the only prerequisites for the exercise of that mediumship by which our spirit 
friends operate upon matter, as witnessed in the phenomena they produce. 
Granted that the results in point of marvel are infinitely inferior ; consider 
the difference of the means employed to produce them. The powers of hu- 
man spirits to act through media are professedly limited, uncertain, and sub- 
ject, to laws but imperfectly understood, but which still seem to bear an 
orderly analogy to the scientific reveahaients of our own sphere. 
■ Not so with the Eastern ecstatics. Their powers seem to be undefined, 
and almost unlimited, and bear no analogy to any laws or hmitations of earthly 
science ; added to which tlie one claims a spiritual and simply post-mundane 
origin for itself, and the other a material and altogether mundane one : hence 
we affirm there is no analogy between them, and none can be truthfully 
drawn. Until we are better informed upon the mysterious powers involved 
in the production of both classes of phenomena, Ave insist that the line of de- 
marcation is clearly distinct between them, ranging the one under the title of 
"Eastern magic," and the other beneath that of Western Spiritualism. 

It Vv'ould certainly be more difficult to dispose of the questions which arise 
concerning the origin of that phenomena which we have described as com- 
mon to the North American Indians. The clairvoyant faculties, prescient 
powers, and general results obtained through their Spiritualism, correspond 
closely with that of their civilized neighbors, but the modes of invocation 
difter essentially, and the characteristics which seem to mark the communi- 
cating intelligences are equally repulsive and incomprehensible to the Ameri- 
can Spiritualist. 

Whether the red man succeeds in evoking and controlling to his service 
a race of beings hovering on the precincts of a sub-mundane sphere, or his 
exercises predispose him to those ecstatic conditions in which the spiritual 
vision, is broken and refracted, and he actually communicates with unde- 
veloped human spirits, but amidst the fumes of tobacco widi which his sys- 
tem is poisoned, he mistakes them for animals, birds, etc., we do not pre- 
tend to decide. Every Spiritualist, in the new dispensation, stands at the 
threshold only, of that vast and wonderful temple of science which conceals 
the mighty laws that govern and hold in their embrace, die universe of mind, 
and all the invisible forces kindred with it. 

As yet, the long closed portals of this mysterious realm are but partially 
opened to our longing gaze. We look down the shining corridors of eternity, 
and see some of the flitting forms of its glorified inhabitants. Our dull ears 
catch the faint echoes of their songs, and our longing, outstretched hands feel 
the silent clasp of theirs ; but into the adytum of that mighty temple, who 
has yet penetrated ? 

We still wait upon the threshold ; and the very boldest, who have dared to 
step forward to the inner portals, can but exclaim in deep humility, 
" tie is a rash man who, outside the realm of pure mathematics, pronounces 
the word impossible," — rasher still, who says "I knov/," when the wisest 
among men can but affirm, " I believe ! " 



490 HISTORY OF MODERN 



CHAPTER XLV. 

SPIRITUALISM DURING THE GREAT AMERICAN CIVIL WAR OP 

1861-5. 

" Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat ; 
And, by the holy rood, 
A man all light, a seraph man. 

On every corse there stood. 
This seraph-band, each waved his hand, 

No voice they did impart — 
No voice, but oh ! the silence sank 
Like music in my heart." 

Ancient Mariner. 

Prognostics of the War— The "Sword of Justice" — Prophecy by the 
Spirit of Washington — The Breaking out of the War — Spiritualists in 
the Army — Financial Difficulties of the Spiritualists — Charles Par- 
tridge AND the Sanitary Fair — Mediumship among the Contrabands — A 
Spirit on the Battle-field — The Widow and Her Five Sons. 

Without entering upon the vexed political questions which ultimated in 
the fearful struggle between North and South, inaugurated in the spring of 
1861, it is necessary to point to some of the results which that terrible con- 
test exercised upon the progress of Spiritualism. It may be remarked, in ad- 
vance, that no fact is better established than the prophetic anticipations of 
mediumistic persons on the character and issue of the struggle. It was not, 
as some may suppose, an inevitable result that slavery in America should 
terminate only through a fierce intestine war ; or that its downfall, under any 
circumstances, could be calculated upon as a foregone conclusion. Such 
propositions are easily enunciated now that the result is achieved, but would 
have struck far wide of any true definition of popular sentiment, antecedent 
to the breaking out of the war. 

We deem it safe to assert, and that from opinions formed upon an ex- 
tensive and ultimate knowledge of both North and South, and a general un- 
derstanding of the politics and parties in both sections, that any settlement 
of the questions at issue between them by the sword, was never deliberately 
contemplated, and that the outbreak no less than the magnitude and length of 
the mighty struggle, was all, humanly speaking, forced on by the logic of events, 
rather than through the preconcerted action of either section of country. 

We say thus much, to demonstrate the truly prophetic character of many of 
the visions and communications which circulated amongst the Spiritualists, 
prior to the opening of the war. The reader will not have forgotten the terri- 
ble words of doom pronounced by the author in the assembly chamber of 
Montgomery, Alabama, in i860. 

Neither will her friends fail to recall many fearful and mysterious visions of 
death and desolation which she portrayed to them, looming up before her 
eyes, as she traversed different States of the forefated South. 

One more personal reminiscence must be introduced here, in deference to 
the wishes of many friends to whom the vision was related, besides having 
been published in several of the Spiritual papers. 

At the close of her first engagement in Montreal, C. W. in 1858, the author 
one morning at sunrise was awakened in the gray of a February dawn, by 
the sound of the housemaid's work proceeding in the adjoining room. "W^iilst 
lying still a few moments in the irresolution of one who ieels it is time to rise, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 49 1 

but lacks the courage to brave the cold of a Canadian ■\nnter's morning, a vision- 
ary state came over her, portending the approach of that semi-trance condition, 
in wliich pictorial representations of the future were often presented to her. 
Then, wliilst all the commonplace surroundings of her chamber were preserved 
intact, the spiritual eye of the seeress looked beyond the thick curtains of 
her window, and beheld the open street without. 

Ax. first she only noticed the people who were abroad at that early houi* 
shivering in the freezing air and hurriedly traversing the icy ground. 

Presently her gaze was attracted upward to the sky, discoverable only 
through the thick haze of a wintry dawn, but, as she looked steadily upon 
the firmament, a sudden illumination became diffused over its entire breadth 
for, mdi the usual unlimited range of spiritual sight, the seeress appeared to 
take in the whole area of the sky, and beheld it full of a strange, white light, 
at first scattered, but gradually gathering together in intense brilliancy to- 
wards that portion which immediately overarched the city. 

Here the illumination, becoming a vast and aggregated mass of fiery beams, 
seemed to have condensed in one spot all the light of the visible universe. 
At first it was simply an immensity of splendor, this fiery mass, but, anon, it 
stretched itself out, extending in one direction, and lengthening in another, 
until it assumed the appearance of a gigantic sword, the blade of which was 
straight, and composed of e^ jjnelled squares of many-colored flowers, from 
which the fight shone in scintihaur g glory inconceivable. 

The handle of this tremendous weapon was a simple cross, straight either 
way, formed of pure white light, which illoninated Canada only, whereas the 
blade of particolored rays communicated its radiance to the whole of the 
United States. Whilst this splendid vision lasted, a voice seemed clearly to 
pronounce these words : " The blade is already in the United States, the cross 
still rules in Canada ; but blade and handle are one, and the sword will never 
be sheathed until both are recognized as a unity." 

So vivid was the picture, so real the voice, that the seeress, impressed 
mth its living actuality, sprang out of bed, ran to the window, drew up the 
blind, and then hastily opened the door of her room, anxious to summon her 
hostess to come and partake mth her of the wonderful sight. Fortunately 
for their opinions of her sanity, the busy housewives had quitted the adjoin- 
ing room ere the seeress, en robe de chanibj-e, entered it. Returning again, 
still under the afflatus of her semi-somnambulic state, she beheld the gorgeous 
vision slowly fade out of sight, leaving naught behind but the leaden expanse 
of the morning sky. 

And yet, so vivid was the impression of the phantasmagoria she had Avit- 
nessed, thatj. though now thoroughly surrounded by the chill atmosphere of 
her chamber, she could not altogether question its reality, and, during the 
day, frequently asked her visitors whether they had not observed any unusual 
appearance in the sky that morning. 

The explanation given by her spirit guides of this vision, whose details were 
immediately after published in the Spiritual Telegraph and Ba7iner of Light, 
was as follows : 

The sword signified Judgi^ient. Its material was light, or spiritual truth. 
Its many hues corresponded to the many forms in which truth becomes re- 
vealed. The shape of the vision being in a sword signified War. 

The blade, already covering the United States, was prophetic of its ap- 
proaching doom. The handle, ruling over Canada, typified the cross of 
St. Andrews, or the British power, which at present governed the province. 
The voice, however, prophesied that the sword would never be shea'hed 



492 HISTORY OF MODERN 

until blade and handle were one. The vision was represented, furthermore, 
as dual, both political and religious, and predicated, first a political, and then 
a religious war, which should only terminate when the two countries were 
united under the dispensation of the true light of heaven. Spiritualism, typi- 
fied, finally, by the vision being presented to a spirit medium. 

Many a one, since that vision has been in part fulfilled in the great Au:eri- 
can war, has written to remind the seeress of its publication in 1858, and to 
question whether the finale of the prophecy, in the union of the two coun- 
tries illuminated by the sword, will ever be fulfilled; but, though the war in 
the States has terminated, the full end is not yet 

In a book entitled " Messages from John Quincy Adams," published by 
Josiah Brigham in 1859, a communication purporting to come from the spirit 
of George Washington, through the mediumship of Joseph D. Stiles, con- 
tains the following striking and significant prophecy : 

"The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, when they had attained the summit of imperial 
wickedness and licentiousness, as the Bible informs us, fell from their higli estate by the visi- 
tation of natural penalties, and the righteous judgments of an overruling Providence. The 
fall of those and other large cities proves to us that no individual or nation can disobey the 
irrevocable enactments of the Infinite Father, and escape the fixed penalties attached to such 
transgressions. And can boasting, sinful America indulge the flattering delusion that the 
heavy judgments which fell upon these ancient cities will be averted from her whose guilt is 
equal if not gi-eater than theirs? Does she think that, Cain-like, she can escape the vigilant 
eye of the Divine Parent, ' whose voice is heard in the rolling thunders and whose might is 
seen in the forked lightnings,' and that He will turn a deaf ear to the cry of mortal agony 
daily borne on the four winds of heaven to His throne of justice from the broken hearts of 
His slavery-crushed children ? 

" God the Eternal Father as commissioned His ministers to a great and important un- 
dertaking. 

" He has invested us with power and authority to influence the actions of mankind, and 
aid them in their struggles for right and truth. 

" We behold a period speedily approaching when man will take up arms against his fel- 
low man, and go forth to contend with the enemies of republican liberty and to assert at 
the point of the bayonet those rights of which so large a portion of their fellow-creatures 
are deprived. Again will the soil of America be saturated with the blood of her freedom- 
loving children, when noble monuments will tremble from base to sum.mit with the heavy 
roar of artillery and the thunder of cannon. The trials of that internal war will far exceed 
those of the Revolution, while the cause contended for will equal, if not exceed in sublim- 
ity and power that for which the fathers of '76 fought. But when the battle smoke shall 
disappear, and the cannon's fearful roar is hushed, mankind will fully realize the blessings- 
outflowing from the mighty struggle in which they so valiantly contended. 

"Their eyes will no longer meet with those bound in the chains of physical slavery, or 
their ears listen to the heavy sobs of the oppressed ; but over a land dedicated to the prin- 
ciples of impartial liberty the king of day will rise and set, and hearts now breaking in the 
bonds of the oppressor will rejoice in the blessings of uninterrupted freedom. 

"In this eventful revolution, what the patriots of the past failed to accomplish, their de- 
scendants will perform with the timely aid of invisible powers. By their sides the heavenly 
hosts will labor, imparting courage and fortitude in the hour of trial, and urging them on- 
ward to a speedy and magnificent triumph. Deploring, as we do, the existence of slavery 
and the means to be employed to purge it from America, yet our sympathies will culmmate 
to the cause of right and justice, to give strength to those 

" ' Who seek to set the captive free. 
And crush the monster slavery.' " 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 49J 

We present these extracts without comrcent, simply reiterating the fact that 
they were pubhshed, and endured the usual amount of sneering criticism and 
infidelic scorn which has accompanied each fresh revelation from the world 
of spirits, as early as 1859. Hundreds of instances are on record of similar inti- 
mations concerning the day of trouble that was approaching. We have quoted 
enough, however, to justify our claim that its dark advent was tlie subject of a 
thorough understanding on the part of the invisible beings, to whom, under 
the Supreme Ruler of the universe, the destinies of mankind ai-e given in 
charge. When the great calamity was fully realized, and the government 
made the first demand on the people for troops, a blow was levelled at 
the order and progress of all existing institutions, including, of course, 
those of a spiritual character. About the opening of the year 1861, Spiritual- 
ism had attained a numerical strength and popularity little anticipated either 
by its friends or foes. The latest statistics of the period estimated its numbers 
at nearly nine millions. Regular Sabbath meetings and conferences were 
held in not less than three thousand different places; and the still growing 
interest manifested in its teachings and phenomena, cannot be adequately 
described. 

When the now far-famed " first gun was fired at Fort Sumter," that inau- 
gurated the great civil war, and with its single, clear, rifle crack, called forth 
twice ten thousand echoes from the hoarse thunder of the cannon, and the 
united discharge of a hundred thousand muskets, when this solitary forerunner 
of the fearful struggle made its portentous cry of warning heard from Maine 
to California, the whole land, with every institution it sustained, quivered and 
shook as with one universal heart-throb, and the answer to that summons 
was made from every voice, north and south, male and female, throughout 
the land. Henceforth the streets were thronged with troops marching out 
to some point of attack or defence. Every suburb was a camp-ground, every 
valley or hill-top a battle-field ; the air was filled with the piercing shrieks of 
agony and despair, the groans of the wounded, the thunder of cannon, 
the booming of the war drums, and the fiery strains of martial music. Soon 
the whole land became a sepulchre, or a temporary hospital for the mutilated 
forms spared in terrible mercy as wrecks of the battle-field, where thousands 
of their brave comrades lay stark and dead in road, ditches, or the common 
highways of the country. Desperate proclamations demanded "life, more 
life !" to fill up the decimated ranks of the broken armies, which had already 
absorbed the pride and strength of the country, leaving behind them desolate 
homes filled \^'ith the voice of lamentation, and the pale forms of bereaved 
widows and heart-stricken orphans. 

The mourners went about the streets, and still the cry of the war-demon 
was for "life, more life!" And in the vast spoil of precious life that was 
ruthlessly torn from friends, home, industry, public and private usefulness, 
and offered up as a sacrifice to the Moloch of war, no sect yielded more 
readily of its choicest treasures than did Spiritualism. 

In martial, as in all other forms of associative action, no organization could 
be effected amongst the Spiritualists. 

Not a single regiment could be combined from their ranks ; but in the 
meantime, we doubt if the whole array of the vast armies that marched to the 
fields of battle, should show a single regunent where one or more of this faith 
was not at the post of patriotic duty. When the peculiar idiosyncrasies of 
these raw and inexperienced forces began to be understood and appreciated 
by their leaders. Spiritualists were eagerly sought for as recruits, even by those 
Vvho had no sympathy with their belief; and the reasons assigned for this re- 



494 HISTORY OF MODERN 

marlcable preference were, first, that the SpintuaUsts' total unconcern on the 
subject of death made them the bravest of soldiers ; next, that their vital and 
peculiar faith rendered them amenable to command, gentle, subordinate, and 
exempt from most of the popular vices of the age, such as drinking, smoking, 
and profanity. 

Where they were possessed of medium powers, it was again and again 
proved that the watchful care and prescient guardianship of wise spirits was 
exerted, not only in their own behalf, but frequently for the benefit of their 
comrades, and, in some instances, for the welfare of the entire regiment to 
which they belonged. Numerous cases are recorded proving that kind spirits, 
through their mediums, have warned the officers of the proximity of danger, 
or the most advantageous course to pursue in positions of difficulty. As these 
spiritual interpositions were rarely openly acknowledged and never admitted 
into official reports, their record of course depends on the fidelity of personal 
narrative; hence we do not feel justified in making them more publicly 
known, than the chief actors therein themselves desired. Yet the truth of 
these ministrations and their value became at last so generally felt and ad- 
rnitted, that the presence of military Spiritualists, but especially mediums, was 
eagerly sought after in these desperate times. 

Besides vast numbers of believers contributed from every city and hamlet 
in the several States, many of the prominent spiritual speakers became active 
partisans and leaders in the war. The gallant and venerable John Pierpont 
had accepted the post of chaplain to one of the Massachusetts regiments 
that was summoned to the defence of Washington, after the violent attack 
of the Baltimore "roughs" on the first republican troops sent through that 
city. 

Baltimore was the shortest and most direct route to Washington ; yet it 
was considered obvious, in view of the numbers and desperation of the 
ruffians who haunted that place, that it would be the most judicious course 
to send the mifitary reinforcements to the capital by a more circuitous, but 
safer it)ute. 

The gallant John Pierpont, when offered the appointment of chaplain to 
this regiment, declared that his acceptance of the post "should defend upon 
his regiment marching through, instead of around Baltimore, and " proving to 
the world, that the first American soldiers that were called upon to defend 
the liberties of their country did not commence by flying from a mob of city 
' roughs.' " 

Thomas Gales Forster, one of the most eloquent advocates that the cause 
of Spiritualism could boast, placed his talents at the command of the govern- 
ment as one of the war secretaries, in which position he long remained. N. 
Frank White, a favorite and distinguished speaker for Spiritualism, entered the 
Federal army, and served long and faithfully as a volunteer. Rev. T. W, 
Higginson raised and commanded, with distinguished success, a regiment of 
the swarthy sons of Africa. Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, Avhose 
family have long been the most zealous and efficient supporters of Spiritual- 
ism in Providence, raised and equipped, out of his own munificence, sonre of 
the most effective of the Rhode Island regiments, commanding them in per- 
son on the battle-field. In short, the Spiritualists throughout the country, 
have a noble record to show of good service done by their ranks in behalf of 
the cause of freedom and the Union. 

Their good conduct no less than their zeal was proverbial ; and if the Spir- 
itualists could not boast of a single regiment filled up from their ranks alone, 
they may claim to have had a very large share in composing the entire 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 495 

'"■1, 

Northern armies. In the meantime, the patriotic enthusiasm -which threw so 
many bdievers into " the imminent and deadly breach," sadly decimated the 
ranks of " the faithful " in the public meetings and circles. 

In many cases it became extremely difficult to sustain these so recently 
, flourishing meetings, and the financial burdens of the attempt, increased be- 
yond endurance by the frightful expenses of the war, rendered the task one 
of scarcely less sacrifice on the part of those who were left at home, than 
that of the heroes who were devoted to the battle-field. On the other hand, 
the constant and overwhelming bereavements of the war rendered these meet- 
ings the chief stay and comfort of the mourners. 

Though so many seats were vacant, and so many beloved forms had dis- 
appeared from the rostrum, chair, hall, and family altar, " whose place would 
know them no more," the evidences of their unseen yet tangible presence 
were so abundant and strong, that the necessity of proclaiming it to the rest 
of the sorrowing community became a duty too imperative to be resisted, 
whatever might be the cost. 

Though financial disabilities crippled their every resource, and the feverish 
agony of the time destroyed the necessary conditions of passivity and order 
amongst the mediums, still the legions of returning spirits pleaded ■nith irre- 
sistible force to be heard, and bereaved mourners turned to the never-failing 
consolations of Spiritualism, as the only balm which the destroying angels of 
pain and death had left them. Thus, though the external progi'ess of the 
cause seemed to be interrupted, its real growth in the hearts and affections of 
the community became a daily increasing fact. A disruptive and disintegrat- 
ing spirit scattered its ranks and swept over its external prosperity ; but the 
very calamities that assailed its strength became the propagandists of its 
consolatory doctrines ; and whether by the side of the dying in the hospital, 
or on the battle-field, acting as nurse, surgeon, or minister, the Spiritualists 
performed a mighty work in the war, and its effects have been felt by adding 
to the statistics of Spiritualism at least two milhons of fresh believers in four 
years. The nurses in the hospitals, the surgeons in the ranks, th-e chap- 
lains of the regiments, and the soldiers themselves, from the distinguished 
general officer to the humblest private of the ranks, numbered amongst them 
the ubiquitous Spiritualists. All were marked by some peculiarity springing 
out of their faith, and every one such distinction became useful and consol- 
atory. At home, too, the Spiritualists were neither sluggard nor inefficient. 
Many of the lecturers contributed of their greatly diminished fees in aid of 
the country's suffering and wounded heroes. The author alone, was privi- 
leged to contribute, by various of the means then resorted to ; to aid the sani- 
tary commissions, etc., nearly twenty thousand dollars. Still the bitter and 
insatiate antagonism of the sects towards Spiritualism, even in this fearful 
crisis, when all personal or sectarian enmities should have been merged in 
the great stress of the times, rendered such efforts extremely difficult, and 
often succeeded in paralyzing them altogether. Numerous instances occurred 
wherein the author's services and contributions, as a lecturer in behalf of 
the hospitals, clothing societies, etc., were scornfully refused on the ground 
of her being " a Spiritualist.'.' 

A striking instance of this madness of bigotry deserves to be mentioned 
in connection -with Mr. Charles Partridge and the New York branch of the 
Sanitary Commission. Whilst the most urgent appeals were making through- 
out the country for aid in behalf of the country's defenders, who were often 
compelled to fight in fluttering rags and shoeless feet, ere the hastily impro- 
vised commissariat could supply them with fresh clothes; whilst dying heroes 



496 HISTORY OF MODERN 

were often compelled to lie for hours in every stage of mutilation on the city 
sidewalks, before fresh hospitals could be provided for their relief, and every 
dime from man, woman, and child, was demanded to meet the ever increasing 
necessity of the times, the popular resort of a great fair was adopted in 
New York, as in every other city, to collect funds in aid of the noble "Sani- 
tary Commission." The most urgent appeals were put forth for contribu- 
tions of all descriptions. The most liberal responses were equally abundant. 
In this emergency, Mr. Charles Partridge, being the proprietor of a large 
match factory, donated to the committee on books, etc., the generous pres- 
ent of six hundred dollars' Avorth of books and matches. This noble contri- 
bution was refused under circumstances which will be best understood by a 
perusal of Mr. Partridge's own statement, addressed to the editor of the 
New York Tribune^ as follows : 

"To the Editor of the New- York Tribittte : 

" Sir, — Having tried in vain, as this statement will show, to get my proffered donation 
to the Metropolitan Fair, accepted, I wish to make the facts known, hoping to find 
authority somewhere in the management of this great patriotic midertaking, which will 
correct the wrongs I complain of. 

"I quote the foUowmg from the printed circular sent to myself and others soliciting 
donations. 

" ' We apply to you in the interests of no party. To all shades of opinion we are stran- 
gers Each one can send something that can be converted into a blanket 

at the very least, and that will warm, and may save from death, some one soldier. . Every 
one that can produce anything that has money value is invited to give.' 

" In response to this solicitation, I called on Mr. F. Flarper,- chairman of the booksellers' 
committee, and offered to donate to the fair three hundred dollars' worth of books and 
three hundred dollars' worth of matches. He referred me to the ladies' committee, No. 2 
Great Jones Street, where I called, and was again referred to Mrs. Ogden Hoffman, 17 
West 38th Street. To this lady I applied, offering my donation. 

" Mrs. Hoffman made several inquiries about the matches, which, I informed her, were 
very superior : the best parlor matches ; not of the ordinaiy offensive kind; were Irce from 
deleterious fumes, waterproof, and neatly put up, in round wooden boxes, for the con- 
venience of purchasers to carry away with them." 

Although rather surprised — considering f/ie terms of the cv'cuiar as above 
quoted, and the dreadful necessity which compelled the committee of arrange- 
ments to sohcit "anything and everything that bore a money value" — 
to be thus closely questioned, Mr. Partridge patiently submitted to be cross- 
examined by the pious and patriotic dame in office, until, in answer to her 
searching queries concerning the nature of the books as well as the matches, 
Mr. Partridge was fain to acknowledge that some of the said books were on 
Spiritualism. Mrs. H. at once exclaimed " that she did not believe in 
Spiritualism, and that she would not receive them nor the matches either." 
To tills Mr. Partridge goes on to state : 

"I replied that she and her associates on the committee, were the only authority who 
could receive books, and I thought it incompatible with their position to reject any books 
that were lawful merchandise and commonly sold, especially for the reason that they did 
not believe in the facts and theories they treated of. 

" Finally, she consented to submit my proposed donation to the committe, and inform 
me of the result by letter, the next day ; but she added she did not think any of the com- 
mittee believed in Spiritualism, or would consent to receive the books. Not hearing from 
the committee, according to promise, I addressed a courteous note to Mrs. Hoffman, re- 
questing to kiiow her decision, to which I received the followmg : — 

"'The book committee decline to receive the Spiritualist books and matches cTeied 
by Mr. Partridge.' 
•* '■March 25, 1864.' 



■ AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 497 

" I then offered the matches to the committee on drugs and perfumeries, — who cheerfully 
accepted them, — and sent the following communication to the committee on books, etc.: 

"New York, April, 1864. 
" Mrs. Ogden Hoffman, and Associates, Bookseller'' s Committee, etc. : 

"I did not expect to receive such a letter from you, without signature, as the one in 
reply to mine of March 25th, declining to receive my proffered donations, your circular 
sent to me soliciting contributions of ' anything which will furnish the means of succoring 
our national camps and hospitals,' and you were appointed to carrj'out this purpose. How 
then, can it be in your province to reject any lawful merchandise, and especially on the 
ground stated by Mrs. Hoffman, namely, that she did not believe in Spiritualism, the sub- 
ject treated of in some of the books; neither did she think any lady on the committee be- 
lieved in it, or would consent to receive books on that subject. I shall be sorry to lean) 
that the committees for this great public demonstration of love and loyalty to a just cause, 
and to the country's wounded heroes, have been selected with reference to their religious 
sentiments, or that the same overbearing, self-righteous spirit prevails in their councils, as 
that which caused the war. 

" It seems to me to be out of order for any committee of this fair to exercise inquisitorial 
predilections, sectarian bigotry, and dictation as to what books the people may or may not 
buy and read. It may not be profitless to inform you that the people's gifts to this noble 
enterprise do not need the sanctification of any committees, since it is not for then" glorifi- 
cation, but for the amelioration of sick and suffering humanity that the fair is held. " . . 

Mr. Partridge concludes his just, but well-merited words of rebuke, by 
again urging on the Christian committee the acceptance of his gift, offering 
to appoint a salesman to dispose of them or sell them separately in the fair 
himself, rather than subtract their valtie from the great need of the soldiers 
at that time. The fate of this remonstrance is stated in the following closing 
words of Mr. Partridge's communication to the Tribu7ie : 

"To this letter I have received no reply. I am unwilling that the gi'eat body of Spir- 
itualists shall be subjected to the indignity of having their books rejected, especially when 
such immense numbers of their ranks are fighting and laying dowm their lives in the very 
cause which this fair was held to relieve ; and I trust this statement may meet the eye of 
some managers of this great enterprise, who are authorized, if there be any such, to coiTect 
this WTong. 

"Charles Partridge." 

As a sign of the times, and in evidence that even the presence of the most 
appalling distress, dire necessity, sanguine death, nothing in short, could 
soften the fierce spirit of sectarian hate against anything, even to a few 
harmless boxes of matches that carried with it the shadow of Spiritualism, it is 
but justice to Mrs. Ogden Ploffman to say that she did not stand alone, but 
that the example of Mr. Partridge's rejected books and matches, found 
imitators under kindred circumstances all over the county, and all through 
the war. 

The firm determination of the Spiritualists to insist upon acting their parts 
in the great national tragedy in which thousands of their fathers, sons, and 
husbands Avere perishing, was the only method by which they could succeed 
in general in forcing their unwelcome service on the war committees ; still in 
this way they did succeed ; and whilst sustaining their meetings, conferences, 
and circles, by immense sacrifices, contributing their noblest and best in 
behalf of the countr}^, and laboring in despite of insult and reprobation in 
every available quarter for the amelioration of the darkest features of the 
Avar, they have the satisfaction of knowing that none more than themselves 
have contributed, by men, means, and magnanimity, in bringing the dark 
tragedy to a final and successful issue. Our space will only allow us to add 
a few items from the immense mass of matter which the spiritual experiences 
of the war supply. 
32 



498 HISTORY OF MODERN 

The following account of "mediumsliip amongst the contrabands ' is 
given by a well-known Spiritualist and contributor to the Banner of Light: 

"Memphis, Tennessee, July 2$, 1864. 

" The negro is here in great abundance, and is virtually free. The negro character is 
quite a study to the Spiritualist ; it is so intuitive, inspirational, religious, arid altogether 

mediumistic They have — these ' contrabands' — amongst them, many who 

see spirits, foretell events, and recognize influences. From the religious training they have 
received as slaves, they believe their influences all come from God or Jesus direct, although 
they often see and describe the spirits of their deceased friends. 

" An old gray -headed negi'o, a slave from Mississippi, and an exhorter in the colored 
Methodist camp, said to me the other day, — 

" ' Why, Massa Lieutenant, we knowed all 'bout dis war long ago. De good Lord cum 
and tell it to de ones he talk to, and dey tell to oders. Massa, I saw de Lord in his o\vn 
home up yonder in de skies, and he tell to dis poor chile dat he should live to see de glory 
of de Lord, and dat all colored people, poor slaves, should be free. Aye, Massa Lieutenant, 
and de Lord show dis child more den dat. ' 

" ' Well, Uncle Ben,' I said, 'what did he show you?' 

" ' He show me dat after many year de color people should pass away like de red man, 
and be no more in dis country. Dat I didn't like ; but de Lord loiows what's best, bless 
him.' 

" ' And what more did the Lord show you. Uncle Ben ? ' 

" ' He show me dis ting more'n ten years gone. And my old woman's mudder saw dis 
war, when she was a gal; more'n fifty dat I know on, saw dis war long time gone.' 

" Subsequently, I heard the same assertion from many of the colored people about here ; 
in fact this war seemed to have been long prophesied amongst them. On the 4th of July, 
being at the negi^o camp near our regiment, I noticed a negro man lookmg earnestly and 
mournfully at one of his comrades. I said to him, — 

" ' Well my man, what do you see about that man, that you look at him so earnestly? ' 

" 'Why, Massa Lieutenant,' replied the soldier, dat man die 'fore long.' 

" ' How do you know ? ' 

" 'Cause I seed it.' 

" ' What did you see ? ' 

" ' I saw de light over his head, and I saw de black spot in de middle of it ; and when I 
sees de black spot in de middle of de light, den I known de person is gwine to die ; but de 
light widout de black spot is sure sign of life. ' 

" ' Do you see anything about me ?' I asked. He looked at me for a few moments, and 
there came a slight spasmodic shudder over him as he said : 'De good Lord talks wid you,' 
meaning that I was a medium, 'and shows you more'n he shows dis chile.' He then 
walked off I talked with the negro soldier whose death he had predicted. The man was 
well, strong, and hearty. 

" In a few days I inquired for him again. He had been swept off by the fever, and was 
already an inhabitant of the spirit land. 

"This was only one man out of scores of his comrades whose deaths he had truly predicted, 
and I have met with several who could accurately determine, before they went mto battle, 
every one out of a whole company who would never return alive." 

The following striking communication was received from the spirit of a dis- 
tinguished soldier, through the mediumship of the celebrated Hudson Tuttle : 

A SOLDIER'S SENSATIONS ON THE BATTLE-FIELD. 

" Azigiisi 13, 1S64. 

•' A darkness came over me ; I felt the earth strike hard against me, 'I had fallen. Where 
and how I was wounded, I could not tell. I was in no pain, but I could not move. After 
a time the strange ringing left my ears, the mists cleared from my eyes. I saw dimly, but 
enough to know my friends were gone, and the enemy were all around me. Then keen 
pains shot througn my limbs. I knew I was injured, but not mortally wounded. After the 
battle, when the field was searched for the wounded, I should be cared for, kindly tended, 
and then sent home on furlough. * 

" A sunny face would meet me at the gate. The dear remembered home would shelter 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM, ' 499 

me ; loving hands would be busy about me, and darling little ones climb my wc unded 
knees and cling around "poor papa's" neck. Ah ! what joy, what ecstasy ! a thousand 
thoughts like these shot through my mind like gleams of sunlight. 

" Then I heard the hoarse voices of fierce combatants; they had made a stand directly 
over where I lay. Our soldiers fought desperately as they retreated, and many a pursuing 
enemy fell on their track. One was aiming his piece directly over me, when he was struck 
dead. He fell across me. 1 endeavored to move so as to shake off the dreadful pressure 
from my chest, but I was too weak. I could only suffer and think. Others feU thick 
around me. One lay heavily upon my aching feet, but intolerable as was the pain of this 
added weight, I was only pinned more closely to the earth I' could not move. The com- 
batants had moved on ; their voices had died off in the distance, and I lay helpless in the 
midst of thousands of such wrecks as myself. Thoughts of the dear home far away ; the be- 
loved ones who were watching and waiting for me amidst the quiet green hills of Vermont, 
mingled with the horror of lying there in the midst of that ghastly -battle-field, with the 
dead weight that crushed me, growing heavier with every breath. It was like some horrid 
nightmare. A corpse resting its cold weight on my breast ; a corpse pressing on my bleed- 
ing limbs ! Night came on, and with it the rain. Darkness impenetrable in the physical 
world, and oh! what unutterable darkness in the mental! In the gi^eat rifts of the black 
heavens therp were awtul flashes of lightning, and bursts of thunder, in the midst of which I 
heard the groans of the wounded as they lay in the pitiless rain. 

" When the morning came, I was almost unconscious of life. I remember watching the 
light breaking in the gray east ; my head rested on that side, and I was too weak to turn it, 
or else it had become stiff in the rain. 

"As it became light, I heard the rolling of artillery, then the fierce, booming thunder of 
the battle renewed. I heard the crash of the rumbling wheels, the tramp of the war horses. 
I knew they were coming towards me, and the horrible fear came over me lest I should be 
trampled under foot, crushed, maimed, ground into the dust ! 

" I endeavored to shout and tell them I was not dead, but I could not even whisper. 

" On they came, maddened and recldess by the spirit of the war. The iron-footed 
horses were on me, almost; but no — they passed me; but now the dreadful wheels ap- 
proached ! 

•■' I saw them coming; one was directly over my eyes. That was the last I remember. 

All was perfect silence. The sounds of war were all hushed. I think I 

must have been in perfect, dreamless slumber, for I felt, heard, and saw, nothing. When 

I awoke, I was well, peaceful, happy ; John was standing near me, apparently in perfect 

health. 'You here?' I asked, in astonishment ; ' I thought you were dead. ' 'So I am,' 
he replied ; ' at least, I have lost my mortal body ; but you plainly see the body is not all 
there is of a man; for my body is, as you say, dead, yet I exist.' 'Surely,' I answered, 'I 
have dreamed, or else am dreaming.' 

" He smiled, as he replied : ' Not so ; but you, too, are dead.' Our conversation lasted 
some hours before I was fuUy convinced I vras really dead, though free "from pain, and the 
horrors of the battle-field over. 

" Since then I have watched the advent of many spirits on the battle-field. 

" The emotions they manifest are as various as the dispositions they bore in life. Soma 
arise from the body perfectly bewildered ; others filled with unutterable hate, and only in- 
spired with the desire of vengeance on the foe. Many meet dear friends who await their 
coming, and hover round their departing spirits. Guardian spirits stand ready by the side 
of all to conduct them to the land where wars shall cease forever. 

"I once observed two Northern and Southern men charge bayonets and mutually kill 
each other. As they arose to this sphere, they stood casting looks of hate at each other ; 
but, by instant spiritual instinct, perceiving that in their immortal bodies they could no 
longer injure one another, they turned slowly away, repelled by that principle so cogent 
here, that we cannot approach those we hate, nor quit those we love." 



500 HISTORY OF MODERN 

The following instance is one out of many hundreds known to the author, 
of spiritual guidance and protection amidst the casualties of war. This par- 
ticular case is selected for publication because the writer has appended to 
his simple statement a name well known for its unimpeachable worth as an 
honest man, and a gallant soldier : 

" Georgiaville, R. 1., yune, ii, 1867. 
" To Mrs. Emma Hardinge : 

" Dear Madam, — I have of late years received many impressions and communications, 
and experienced various manifestations of power from spirit friends. Some of these demon- 
strations accompanied me whilst I was in the "Army of the Potomac" in 1864 and 1865. 
Amongst other communications, tire spirits assured me that they would attend me, and in 
times of danger ward it off, and constantly protect me. These promises have been verified 
in a remarkable manner, when in battle. 

" No matter how close a bullet or cannon shot might pass me, I never got hit. If I was 
not in its exact range, the spirits would not interfere, but on several occasions, when I must 
certainly have been killed, but for their interposition, I was, without any volition on my 
owTi part, forcibly and instantaneously drawn aside by some invisible power, just sufficiently 
to escape the passing missile. I have thus been moved forwards, or sideways, or made to 
stoop, as occasion required, just in exact time to escape balls, a countless number of times. 
On two or three occasions I have seen others struck down by the ball that would mevitably 
have hit me, but for this wonderful interference. 

"A remarkable illustration of spiritual protection was manifested on the morning of the 
second of April, 1865, when attacking the rebel defences of Petersburg, Virginia. My spirit 
friends had warned me of great danger, directed me how to act, and assured me of their 
ability to protect me in the above described manner. Acting by their advice, I was guided 
rapidly through a tremendous fire, to a point in the rebels' abattis where a narrow path was 
left for their pickets to pass through. 

" I called to some comrades, three of whom joined me in running do^vn this path through 
a line of stockade, a second line of abattis, across a ridge in the ditch, and though an em- 
brasure, into a battery of two guns and about twenty-five men. Being the first of our 
division [first division, sixth corps] to enter this portion of the rebels' works, others being 
obstructed by the abattis, and unassisted and undirected, except spiritually, the preservation 
of our lives was little short of a miracle, especially as we drew the attention of the whole 
of the rebels in 'the battery, who outnumbered us six to one; but we held our position 
inside their works until the lines were carried right and left, and what rebels remained in 
the battery surrendered.* 

" These manifestations of spiritual guidance and protection, were of too marked a nature 
to be attributed to human power. 

"Edwarb T. Steere, 
'^ Late Sergeant of Co. D, Second R. I. Vols." 

When Spiritualism first became generally known in New York, the family 
of a wealthy physician by the name of Laird commenced the investigation, 
and soon became coi:ivinced of its reality. The family consisted of Dr. and 
Mrs. Laird, and their only son, John, a fine lad of about fourteen. In the 
course of their sittings it was found that Mrs. Laird and her son Avere both 
possessed of remarkable mediumistic powers, the fonner being an excellent 
clairvoyant, or seeing medium, and the young lad one of the most powerful 
physical m.ediums of the day. The doctor was highly elated at this discovery, 

* Sergeant Steere's daring and gallant conduct on this occasion, was the subject of marked and eulogistic 
comment in official reports of the action. Few but himself however knew the secret of the impunity with which 
he would have rushed on certain destruction but for the promise of spiritual protection. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 501 

and soon became in consequence an enthusiastic adherent to the faith; but 
Mrs. Laird, being nen'ously sensitive on the subject of the world's opinion 
touching tliis unpopular faith, strongly opposed the continuance of their cir- 
cles, and refused to contribute by her mediumistic powers to its propagand- 
ism. The family subsequently took up their residence in Wisconsin ; and it 
was about the year 1859 that the author became acquainted with them, and 
on the strength of her remonstrances, that Mrs. Laird — a most amiable and 
interesting, though a highly nervous and impressible person — consented to re- 
new the family circles, and suffer her own and her son's remarkable gifts to 
become instrumental in extending the knowledge of Spiritualism. From this 
time, until 1862, their enjoyment of spirit communion was continued without 
interruption. It was then that the young man, John Laird, became importu- 
nate with his parents to obtain their consent to go as a volunteer to the war. 
At first his pleadings were in vain. The doating father and mother could not 
be induced to part with their only child, " their ewe lamb ; " but when John 
Laird urged that their neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Marsden, had permitted 
James, his most intimate friend and associate, and their only child, to volun- 
teer, the patriotic doctor felt ashamed of ^vithholding his consent, and at last 
succeeded in wringing a reluctant acquiescence from tlie poor mother. 

The two young men attached themselves to the same company. Imme- 
diately after their enlistment, their regiment was ordered off to active service 
in the South, and their time of preparation and farewell was limited to a few 
hours only. 

Just before they departed, the two families had assembled to hold one 
final communion with the spirits, who were earnestly invoked by both the 
fond and anxious mothers, to have special charge over their beloved ones. 
To these passionate appeals. Dr. Laird remarked with pain and surprise, that 
no promises were made on the part of the spirits to ward off danger from the 
two young men ; and when the direct query was propounded by himself, 
whether the boys would return in safety to their homes, no response could be 
obtained, but in its place, a forcible and emphatic communication to the ef- 
fect that "Anna" [Mrs. Laird] would be kept informed of all that happened 
to them. A few months after their departure, Mrs. Laird was passing through 
her chamber just before retiring for the night, when she suddenly encountered 
the apparition of James Marsden, who appeared in his soldier's uniform, and 
looked well, strong, and happy. The phantom smiled upon her, and seemed 
to say, " All is well," then instantly vanished. 

Mrs. Laird was greatly agitated at this visitation ; and deeming that it must 
be the disembodied appearance of young Marsden that she had witnessed, 
proceeded the next morning, with considerable pain and hesitation, to ac- 
quaint his mother, and her near neighbor, with what she had beheld. Mr. 
and Mrs. Marsden, though gi'eatly agitated by her narrative, clung to the 
hope that the words of the apparition, " All is well," were significant of good 
tidings rather than death ; and in a few days their flattering anticipations were 
confirmed by a letter received from their son, in which he stated that on the 
Friday evening last, they had held a little circle in the tent of their captain, 
and that he, James Marsden, had, for the first time in his life, realized the in- 
fluence of entrancement ; that for a few minutes he was entirely unconscious, 
and on his awakening, he recalled that he had been to Wisconsin, entered his 
mother's house, and finding himself unable to impress her with the fact 
of his presence, that he had visited Mrs. Laird, and conversed with her ; 
but the nature of what transpired he could not remember. He stated 
tiie hour to have been precisely that at wliich Mrs. Laird had seen him, 



502 HISTORY OF MODERN 

adding that she was in her night-dress, a description which talHed with the 
facts of the case. 

From this time, and during a period of two years, through Avhich time the 
brave young men were performing faithful service to their country, Mrs. Laird 
was constantly visited by the living spirit of James Marsden, who always 
seemed to come a few days or hours in advance of the letters which the 
fond parents received from their boys. Mrs. Laird often invoked the appa- 
rition of her own beloved son, and Mrs. Marsden lamented that she, rather 
than her friend, could not be the recipient of these blessed visitations ; but 
the special desires of neither of the ladies seemed susceptible of gratification, 
though they could obtain no other solution of the phenomenon, than that Mrs. 
Laird was a '' seeing medium," and " Mrs. Marsden was not," and that, during 
the circles which the young soldiers held as often as opportunity permitted, 
James Marsden was the only one who was found to be endowed with the 
clairvoyant faculty which enabled him to make these strange spiritual visita- 
tions. On a certain occasion, after one of the most fearful conflicts of that 
sanguinary period, and when the anxious parents of the absent soldiers were 
in hourly expectation of tidings from the dreadful battle-field, Mrs. Laird was 
suddenly thrown into a deep trance, in which she beheld the figure of young 
Marsden smiling upon her as usual ; but, alas ! the gallant form was no 
more, as of old, the semblance of rugged strength and youthful vigor ; it 
passed silently before her spiritual eyes, with the slow gliding motion of a 
moving picture, whilst the torn uniform, the dishevelled hair and beard, and, 
in fact, every portion of his dress, was drenched with blood. From this 
time too, the precious and consolatory letters of the young men ceased. 

Repeated inquiries, and even the personal applications which the dis- 
tracted parents made to the officers, only afi^brded them the sad consolation 
of hoping that their beloved ones still lived, though they learned with un- 
speakable agony that they were both prisoners, and supposed to be sepa- 
rated from each other. Soon after these afflicting tidings had reached the be- 
reaved ones, Mrs. l^aird was again cheered by a renewal of young Marsden's 
spiritual visits, and that no longer in the form of mutilation and horror which 
he had recently worn, but apparently well, in life, health, vigor, and wonder- 
ful brightness; in fact, the moment the eye of the seeress looked on the glo- 
' rious apparition, she felt confident that she beheld an enfraiichised spirit. 

Of her own beloved boy no tidings were yet received through any source ; 
and the bright apparition, although for several weeks it flashed across her 
path, never spoke, until one evening when the mourning and heart-broken 
parents being assembled around their little circle table as usual, IN'Irs. Laird 
became entranced, in which coiidition she received from the spirit of James 
Marsden the following communication: "Let my father make a journey to 
Donellsonville and apply to Captain Somers, whom he will there find in charge 
of my old company, and from him he shall receive the poor broken shell from 
which the butterfly has escaped into the sunlit air of eternity." As if to make 
this communication more significant, Dr. Laird informed the author, in his nar- 
rative of those events, that the remarkably merry, though somewhat erratic 
disposition of young Marsden, had procured him amongst his schoolmates, 
the cognomen of the "butterfly." To all the piteous appeals of the unhappy 
mother that James would inform her of die fate of her own boy, Mrs. Laird, 
could obtain no other reply than a sorrowful shake of the head, when the ap. 
parition would immediately disappear. Five weeks after this communication, 
Mr. Marsden returned to his home in Wisconsin from Donellsonville, \^ith 
the casket that contained the x^oor remains of his dead hero, who had died, as 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 503 

he learned from a Captain Somers, then in charge of James's old company, 
bravely on the battle-field, covered with wounds. Captain Somers on discov- 
ering the body of the poor sufferer still hving amidst a heap of slain, had 
caused him to be removed to a temporay tent erected on the plains, where he 
lingered for some hours before he expii^ed ; and it was obviously, upon a com- 
parison of dates, on the evening after his removal to the tent, but some hours 
before his death, that his ghostly apparition in the red panoply of the dread- 
ful battle, had appeared to Mrs. Laird. At his own request his remains had 
been deposited in such a place as would enable his father to identify and re- 
move them without difficulty, though Captain Somers acknowledged that, 
debilitated by a severe attack of sickness, he had been unable to communi- 
cate, as he had promised, with James Marsden's family, and in consequence 
he was greatly astonished at the information which enabled his father to in- 
quire for him, and thus obtain the poor lad's remains. 

But still no tidings came of John Laird. At last the unhappy father 
himself resolved to depart on the quest, find out, and, if possible, rescue his 
unfortunate captive child, if indeed he yet lived; otherwise, "to perish with 
him." The night before his departure, a series of the most terrible pictures 
that the mind could conceive of, flitted before the entranced eyes of the 
unhappy Mrs. Laird, as they sat at their usual circle. James Marsden 
was there, and in answer to the solicitations of the whole circle, promised to 
disclose the fate of John. At first he conducted the clairvoyant spiritually 
through all the sickening and heart-rending scenes of a deserted battle field, 
the day after the carnage. From thence they passed to a prison, the name 
of which, for the honor of humanity we will not write, desiring rather that its 
ghastly record should sink into eternal oblivion than to renew the tale that 
became only too popular when its horrors were made public. There the 
seeress beheld wretched men in every stage of sickness, corruption, and 
starvation; dying of filth, neglect, inanition, and cruelty. Mad, stupid, 
raving, some scarce living, more still just perishing in the last agonies of their 
hideous and revolting doom, — perhaps it had not been possible for the 
wretched mother to have recognized her once bright and blooming boy 
amidst the awful wrecks of humanity, thus maimed, tortured, and muti- 
lated out of life by the remorseless spirit of fratricidal war; but not being .. ,, 
able to do so, the horror-struck mother kept cherishing the belief in her A \ 

heart of hearts, that he 7vas dead, he must he dead ; nay, she hoped, prayed, ^ 

and slirieked aloud her petition to heaven, that he might be dead, rather 
than live to form one of this awful and ghastly crew, dragging out an exist- 
ence to which ten thousand deaths would be infinitely preferable. Whilst 
uttering these frantic petitions, Trom out as it seemed the very midst of the 
steam which arose in foul exlialations from the wards of the prison hospital 
[so called], a bright tongue of flame shot up in the air, and from it leaped 
into the very chamber in which she sat, as it seemed, the living and glorified 
semblance of her son, John Laird. His face was beautiful, fresh, young, and 
full of joy, as if for some mighty liberation. He wore no earthly garments, but 
a robe as if of sheeny light floated around his form; his dark locks were 
encircled by a glittering wreath of stars, which the seeress at once com- 
prehended to be the a'own of martyrdom. Far below him, as it seemed, in 
space, yet gazing affectionately upon him, was the radiant form of young 
Marsden. 

It. appeared as if these spirits had not met before, for a jo}^ul look of recog- 
nition illuminated the face of John Laird, and his spirit seemed as if by irre- 
sistible attraction to float down towards the form of his friend, who on his 



504 HISTORY OF MODERN 

part slightly ascended to meet him. They then wound their arms tenderly 
around each other, and, gazing for a moment with countenances of the most 
impressive love and beatitude upon the still entranced mother, they gradually 
ascended from her view, in the most transcendent and glorious clouds of light, 
illumined v/ith radiant faces Avhich seemed to gleam in countless multi- 
tudes through the brilliant and many colored wreaths of shining atmosphere, 
in which they dissappeared. 

At the close of this vision, the dim lights that were burning in the apart- 
ment slowly went out, leaving the room only illuminated by the moonbeams, 
which shimmered through the half-closed curtains; and in this solemn gloom 
a strain of the most wondrous and delicious music vibrated through the apart 
ment, lasting for a period of over seven minutes, during which its wonderful 
and ecstatic sweetness produced a calm so holy, tranquil, and soothing, over 
all present, that no word was spoken, no surprise manifested, and not even a 
sigh was breathed by any present until nearly ten minutes after the heavenly 
strains had died away. Mr. Laird's house, where the circle was held, was 
detached ; not a single instrument of music was to be found within it, nor was 
there any possible source whence it could have come. 

y There were present at this scene. Miss Sarah James, teacher, of Boston ; 
Mr. and Mrs. Schoole}^, of Cambridge, Massachusetts ; and Miss Mary 
Merton, also of Boston, besides the two families ; all of whom testify to the 
repetition of this fearful vision through the entranced lips of Mrs. Laird, and 
the wonderful and ecstatic strains of music that succeeded it. The above cir- 
cumstances were detailed to the author by Dr. Laird himself, — now busied 
in mining operations in the territories, — and testified to by his friend, Mr. 
Marsden, and Mr. T. D. Connor, his clerk, — the person who subsequently 
traced tha death of John Laird in one of the Southern prisons, and whose 
testimony on their revolting and inhuman treatment of prisoners, was after- 
wards made public. Both the poor fathers became lonely as well as childless 
men ; Mrs. Laird having soon followed her soldier boy to the land of light, 
from whence he continually came to summon her home ; and her friend, Mrs. 
Marsden, having sought to assauge the agony of her bereavement by entering 
a rigid Catholic establishment, where the consolations of Spiritualism are 
meted out in minimun proportions, by her ghostly confessor. Both Dr. 
Laird and Mr. Marsden retained their unwavering faith in spiritual exist- 
ence and communion, and cheerfully pursued their labors in duty to humanity, 
and the confident hope of shortly j oining their beloved ones in the land of 
never-setting suns. 

In Cincinnati, Ohio, the author met a brave young soldier. Lieutenant 
Emmett, who had been compelled to retire from a career of honorable dis- 
tinction in the army on account of the loss of an arm. 

He was a strong Spiritualist, and an excellent writing medium. On one 
occasion, being at a circle v/here the author was present, he drew from his 
pocket-book a communication from his spirit father, which read to the fol- 
lowing effect : that if he [Frank] would go to the war no bullet which was 
yet forged, should harm him ; no sword could maim him, or fire scorch 
him for he [his father, in the spirit-world] could and would protect him 
through all the perils of war ; and that he, Frank Emmett, would be safer far 
on the battle-field than in the peaceful scenes of home. " How then is it," 
asked one of the circle, " that we see you thus maimed, but still in the uniform 
of the army?" Lieutenant Emmett rephed: "My spirit father kept his word. 
I enlisted with the First New York Volunteers as a private. I won my 
present rank step by step, serving in six battles and always finding myself 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 505 

forward, — sometimes in defiance of orders, — in the thickest of every fray. I 
have been the target at which a hundred rnuskets were aimed : I have been 
the centre of a freest of swords, and have had no less than five bayonets 
IJointed at my very throat ; yet, somehow, and in a variety of ways too nu- 
merous too relate, I escaped them all, without a single scratch. 

" My play -going comrades used to call me " Der Frieschutz," and say I ' bore 
a charmed life.' But, forgetful that my blessed father's promise of protection 
extended only to the battle-field, and that he had again and again answered to 
my poor wife, who was always remonstrating against my continuance in the 
army, * Frank Avill always be safer on the battle-field than at home, whilst 
the war lasts,' I at last jielded to Mary's earnest solicitations, obtained a 
leave of absence, and went down to New Orleans to spend my furlough with 
her. The second day of my visit, whilst out riding with my wife, her horse 
took fright, and I, in my endeavor to arrest him, was thrown down and broke 
my arm, The poor stump which I now carry, is the testimony to the tiiith 
of my spirit father's warning." 

Mrs. Emmett, who was present at this circle, confirmed her husband's state 
ments, adding that she sometimes feared Frank's communications, as they 
came through himself, were colored by his own warlike wishes ; but since she 
had heard his comrade's marvellous stories of her husband's hair-breadth 
escapes, she was convinced that some power had been effective to guard 
him on the battle-field, that could not extend its protecting influence else- 
■\\'here. 

In the western part of New York resides a lady, now the wife of a Presby- 
terian minister, whose determined opposition to Spiritualism induces her, to 
withhold her name from publication. 

The circumstances of the foUomng narrative are so w^ell known, however, 
that they are already public property, and too fully verified in the belief of 
large numbers of persons to need the additional testimony of a name. 

Mrs. S. was a widow when the war first broke out, and being a warm par- 
tisan of the Northern cause, she cheerfully consented to part with the eldest 
of her five "boys," to enlist as one of the earliest volunteers in a New York 
regiment. 

About five months after his departure, she one morning announced to the 
rest of the family, in calm and unfaltering accents, that " Ernest was gone." 
" He appeared to me last night," said the mother, " \nth the life-blood 
streaming from his wounded side ; assured me he had effected an instantan- 
eous transit into the land of peace and rest, and had already been Avelcomed 
by his father and sister, all well and gloriously happy." " He came last 
night," she added, to tell me of his change, and to ask that 1 would send 
Edward in his place." So Edward went, and was gladly v\'elcomed by the 
comrades of the gallant Ernest, whose place was indeed vacant, as the mother 
had seen. 

In another five months, the -v^adow and her three remaining sons being 
seated at the entrance porch of her mansion, she suddenly started up ex- 
claiming, " Great Heaven ! my two boys, Edward and Ernest are here ! 
Alas ! alas ! Ernest leads his brother by the hand mortally wounded, but not 

yet released — oh! when will the deliverance come?" 

Then, after a long pause, she cried in a tone of exultation and anguish com- 
bined : "Thank God 'tis over." "The sting of death is past; my brave 
Edward is free and has joined the heroes who have gone before. "Wliat is 
the hour V/illiam ?" " Half-past eight, mother," replied the third son. 

The dispatches of the following week brought the tidings that Edward S. 



5o6 HISTORY OF MODERN^ 

had been shot at his post of duty at twenty minutes past eight on Friday 
evening the preceding week, and had expired after ten minutes of suffering. 
The family were all Spiritualists, and all, from the mother to the infant of 
eighteen months old, good mediums. With their faith, and the mother's 
patriotic enthusiasm then, it was no marvel to their neighbors that Wihiam, 
the third son, departed for the war within two weeks •after the death of his 
second brother ; but that which seemed a blow almost too hard for the be- 
reaved mother to bear was the fact that her fourth boy, Merwin, a lad of 
only nineteen years old, insisted upon accompanying him to the fatal field. 
As they took leave of the dear home and the precious mother, young 
Merwin murmured, "I know we shall never return, dearest mother; Ernest 
and Edward want us in spirit land to help form a regiment of guardian spirits, 
vi^ho are soon to turn the tide of war, and give the day to liberty and the 
Union;' but they say, mother, they cannot do without us." 

'■'■ Then go, my beloved ones, and God's will be done," sobbed the mother. 
" When the angels call up heroes for America's sake, let the lament of the 
widow be hushed, and the wail of mourning be turned into the song of re- 
joicing." 

Mrs. S. informed the author that she knew from memoranda which none 
but a mother could have kept with such fearful exactitude, that it was just five 
months between the deaths of her two eldest sons ; and when the first five 
months had expired since her third and fourth had departed, and, in the sixdi 
month afterAvards, she heard from them that they were alive and well, her 
mother's heart rebounded with the joyful hope that the spell was broken, and 
her treasures might yet be returned to her. 

It was ten months, to a day, since the departure of William and Merwin, that 
Mrs. S. was sitting with her only remaining boy, a lad of twelve summers, sadly 
gazing into the parlor fire, and thinking of the absent mortals and the hov- 
ering immortals, when, \x\. the dim twilight of the fast deepening evening, young 
Lewis started up, exclaiming, " Oh mother ! here they all are again : here's 
Ernest and Edward, and Willie and Merwin too, and they're all in their 
soldiers' clothes, and Willie and Merwin are covered with blood and dust ; 
and oh ! mother, they wear no caps, and they've all such shining rays round 
their heads, and their faces do look so bright ! Mother ; mother ! the boys 
are angels now, and they shine like the sun at noonday !" 

A faint cry of agony, a muttered petition to Heaven for strength, and then 
the bereaved mother cried, " Alas, alas ! Then I've no more sons to give for 
America." 

" Yes, but you have, though, mother," rejoined the boy ; " you have me. 
The boys say they've come to fetch me." 

With a sliriek like a wild animal, the miserable mother caught the boy to 
her breast with a clutch of iron. 

" Poor child ! " she answered, " what couldst thou do for America, that my 
heart's last tendril should be rent from me ? No, child, no ! thou canst not, 
thou shalt not go ! besides, were there ten thousand such as thee, what could 
ye all do for America ? " 

" I am to be a dnunmer, mother," the little hero replied. " Ernest says 
he'll send home Willie and Merwin to fetch me ; but they'll all four swear to 
bring me alive, safe, and well through the war. They swear it, mother, they 
swear it." 

The following week, Captain Conrad Thomas, a neighbor and warm friend 
of the bereaved mother, escorted back the poor remains of her two brave boys, 
who had been killed fighting side by side at the battle of Gettysburg. Cap- 



a:jerican spiritualism. 507 

tain Thomas was, like Mrs. S., a strong Spiritualist, and moved by the earnest 
pleadings of little Loms, and lepeated communications from the band of spirit 
brothers, with the emphatic assurance that not a hair of the child's head 
would be injured, he succeeded in inducing Mrs. S. to let the last, son the 
widow's only remaining treasure, depart with Captain Thomas, in the capacity 
of drummer-boy. Little Louis did return, and that in the mortal form, alive, 
safe, and well, to the lonely widow's home, but not until the very close of the 
war, and not until after his young life had been given him in many a hair- 
breadth escape and perilous adventure, in which, he repeatedly affirmed, he saw 
the uplifted swords of his four spirit brothers crossed above his head, and form- 
ing an impregnable fortress of defence, against which every weapon formed by 
man was wielded in vain. The little drumrner-boy became a great feature in 
the latter portion of the war ; and when he did return, he came to his happy 
mother loaded with trophies of his gallant behavior, and escorted, as he per- 
sisted in declaring, by his band of angel brothers. 

The circumstances of this little history are familiar to many an inhabitant 
of Western New York ; and though their heroine, in deference to her new 
marital relations, is silent upon the spiritualistic features of the narrative, she 
cherishes them in her heart and memory, and seems willing to allow her rev- 
erend husband to stigmatize the oft-told tale as "all hallucination," for the 
sake of the glorious certainties which revealed to her the immortal destiny of 
hej arisen heroes. 

With the marvellous history of the pure and glorious martyr of Dom Revii 
before us ; with the historical evidences of how an unskilled and simple peas- 
ant girl could marshal the splendid armies of France, redeem her country 
from the yoke of the oppressor, and perform feats of heroism outrivalling the 
most daring deeds of ancient chivalry; with the almost fabulous glory of Joan 
of Arc's history as our precedent, and the clearest of testimony that its tran- 
scendent marvels were solely achieved on the bidding of angels, and under the 
immediate guidance and personal direction of spiritual beings, it seems 
almost puerile to cite these obscure incidents of a similar, though in com- 
parison, scarcely remarkable spiritual supei^vision. Did our space permit us, 
however, to narrate all the spiritual experiences of this eventful period, we 
should find them the same in degree, though less in splendid power than that 
of the martyred maid of Orleans, whilst their vast numbers might well prove 
an equivalent for the lack of striking interest and romantic beauty. 

In truth the same divine messengers who led on Joan of Arc to the salva- 
tion of France, formed a cloud of witnesses, and a shield of defence about the 
warriors who did battle for America's freedom. Though the means were less 
apparent, the results were not less magnificent. God's angels led on the 
hosts who fought for the liberties of France through the mediumship of her 
glorious martyr. 

Invisible armies marched to the rescue of America's freedom through many 
mediumistic warriors. 

The origin and results of the warfare in each case were alike divine. 

Heaven itself, through hmnan instrumentalities, does battle on the side of 
liberty and justice. 



So8 HISTORY OF MODERN 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

THK PROGRESS OF SPIRITUALISM AFTER THE WAR OF 1861-5. 

" Oh! if no other boon were given, 

To keep our hearts from wrong and stain. 
Who would not try to win a heaven 
Where all we love shall live again ? " 

Moore. 

A Review of Spiritualism in New York, New England, etc. — Judge Edmonds 
AT Music Hall, Boston — Spiritualism in Washington — Correspondence — 
Our Western Mediums. 

Our history has now reached that point where, as a consecutive narrative, 
our labors are ahiiost ended. To pursue, at any further length, the touching 
incidents and spiritual experiences which grew out of the great American war, 
would require a separate and special record, and that of an almost indefinite 
size, since the vast influx of spiritual existence which the fields of carnage 
supplied, have furnished a completely new and peculiar array of testimony 
concerning the communion of spirits with earth. 

Our limited space compels us to close the historical portions of our record 
by a summary of the status which Spiritualism assumed after the disruptive 
action of the war had ceased, leaving only its inevitable effects behind. 

As the preliminary step towards arriving at " the whole conclusion of the 
matter," we invite the reader to review the ground which we have hitherto 
trodden, and consider its several aspects under the influence which the reced- 
ing tides of vv^ar have left. 

Vv'hen the roar of the tempest was hushed, and the wail for the martyred 
President, the last victim offered up to the Moloch of the battle-field, had 
died away into the silence of breathless expectation, voices of complaint and 
lament, or resignation and renewed aspiration, went up from the broken 
ranks of the Spiritual army in every State of the Union. 

The Spiritualists suffered much during the calamitous day of carnage. As 
unsparing in their devotion to the country's weal as any other denomination, 
they did not enjoy the same advantages, in consequence of their lack of 
organization. Having had neither special provision for administering reme- 
dies in their peculiar fashion, nor homes for their own sick, poor, maimed, or 
bereaved ones, they were compelled to merge the marked individuality which 
their belief developed, into the customs and habits adopted by the various 
associations to which they were obliged to apply for relief. 

The Sabbath meetings, too, shorn of many of their members, and much 
of even their transient support, languished for lack of the permanence 
and stability which regular church organizations give to other bodies. Still 
a counterbalance to these conditions of external depression was found in the 
inevitable increase of aspiration towards the bright land where so many 
thousands of spirits, so lately the centres of human love and interest, had 
passed on. Yearning hearts that had never before dreamed of communion 
with the dead, or perhaps scornfully repudiated its idea, now turned wistfully 
towards the golden gates through which their best beloved had vanished. 

It has been said that in the four years' conflict that desolated the land, 
over a million of men, the flower of America's maioliood, strength, and power, 



%■ 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 509 

had disappeared from the face of the earth ; perished on the blood-stained 
altars of the war demon. Gone! none but the immortals themelves could 
tell whither. 

To those realms of living manhood and resurrected spiritual being, then, 
how many millions of mourning hands were piteously outstretched ! how 
man)'' passionate lamentations have recalled the fleeting spirits back to earth ! 
how many tendrils of love have bound them in ties, which death itself could 
not loose, to the homes which their mortal dissolution had left desolate ! 

Broken, scattered, and heterogeneous as the ranks of Spiritualism appear 
after the desolating action of the war has swept through them, never in any 
period of its brief history has it taken so deep and fervent a hold upon 
the hearts of a mourning people, or been responded to more fully by the 
emphatic efforts of the recruited armies of the spirit country. The founda- 
tion of a grand and powerful epic new in spiritual history are being laid there- 
fore, even whilst the pen of the scribe is recording the closing up of the era 
through which it has just passed. 

Let us now turn to its present external aspects. 

In New York City, Spiritualism, though still universally believed in, and 
warmly cherished, has become less publicly manifest than formerly. 

Two Sabbath meetings are commonly sustained, with a fair share of sup- 
port, and whenever the rostnun is filled by favorite speakers, crowded audi- 
ences testify to their continued interest in the faith. 

In our notice of societies, etc.', will be found a copy of the charter on 
which " The First Society of Spiritualists " in New York was founded. This 
organization started in 1866, and for several months during the succeeding 
year, in fact, up to the period of her departure for Europfe, the author was 
the regular speaker of the society. 

The meetings Avere held at Dodworth's Hall, and crowded audiences sus- 
tained them, even during the most inclement seasons of a severe winter. 
Since then the system of employing transient speakers has been adopted, 
but with less success than attends the ministrations of a permanent lecturer. 

There is a second meeting in New York for spiritual Sunday services, and 
amongst its most acceptable features are the occasional addresses of the ever 
esteemed and popular exponent of the " Harmonial Philosophy," A. J. Davis, 
and the delightful meetings of the children's lyceum, founded by Mr. and 
Mrs. Davis, and hereafter to be described in full. As the first association 
of the lyceum order was convened in New York, under the personal super- 
vision of its founder, this lyceum may be regarded as the parent gathering, 
and hence possesses a peculiar interest and claim to notice. 

The attendance is very numerous, often numbering some hundreds of 
children and adults, and promoting a very earnest and efi'ectual interest in 
Spiritualism amongst the rising generation. 

A third Sabbath spiritual meeting is held at Lamartine Hall, Eighth Avenue, 
at which trance speakers occasionally ofiiciate. 

Sunday services of Spiritualists are also held, and very numerously at- 
tended, in Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, Jersey City, etc., so that New York and 
its environs are as well supplied in respect to doctrinal teaching on this sub- 
ject, as by any of those denominational organizations that date their existence 
back for centuries. 

The long established and still interesting conference holds its sessions be- 
tween the hours of morning and evening service in connection with the Sab- 
bath meetings of the " First Society of Spiritualists." Besides these pub- 
lic opportunities for investigation, New York is rich in healing, trance, test, 



5IO HISTORY OF MODERN" 

clairvoyant, and other mediums, whose addresses are to be found in \\\Q.Bantier 
of Light, and whose ranks are constantly supplied by the floating spiritualistic 
population which gravitates, like all other classes, in ever-living tides of fresh 
thought and progress, towards this great cosmopolitan centre. 

It is generally beheved, however, that the great sum of New York Spiritu- 
alism exists in private circles, of which there are several thousand held weekly 
in the city and its environs ; in fact, to find one family who have not had in 
their own persons, or that of their immediate acquaintances, some medium- 
istic gifts or spiritual experiences, is the exception, rather than the rule of 
New York life. 

In remembering the names that have figured in the early portions of this 
volume, we may recall many who have withdrawn from the arena of public 
life in connection with Spiritualism, but not one who, to the author's knowl- 
edge, has renounced faith in its teachings, or interest in its phenomena. 

The swift and stormy tides which sweep onward the genius of the American 
people, are fraught v/ith convulsive changes and revolutionary springs of ac- 
tion, hence the stability of character which is found in older and more con- 
servative countries, is something lacking here, especially in New York City, 
which, both in respect to its inhabitants and their leading traits of character, is 
a perpetual scene of mutation. 

The external aspect of Spiritualism being as changeful as the genius of the 
city, we are all the more happy to observe that such well-tried champions of 
the cause as Mr. P. E. Farnsworth, Dr. Robert Hallock, Mr. Albert Day, 
Mrs. J. M. Jackson, A. J. Davis, and others who have long and bravely borne 
the heat and burden of the day, are still at their posts of dut}^, and ever ready 
and untiring in distributing the bread of life which they have found in Spiritu- 
alism. 

Mrs. Margaretta Fox Kane, and her sister "Katy Fox," are at present 
residents of New York ; and the glorious telegraph which proclamed the mes- 
sages of immortality through their childish organisms twenty years ago, is still 
sounding in their matured womanhood. 

Their eldest sister, Leah, now Mrs. Underbill, in the privacy of her happy 
home, and in sympathy with her noble husband, still at times affords to her 
large circle of friends the charm of her undiminished power, though in the 
retirement of private life, the same precious joy-bells of immortality ring out, 
that gladdened the heart of many a bereaved mourner in her former public 
ministrations. 

Of all the enthusiastic believers who once formed the ranks of New York 
Spiritualism, we know of many who have passed to the realm of spiritual 
verities to whose threshold they were formerly but pilgrims ; of many more 
Avho have wandered from the fast beating heart of New York ; and some 
few who, as advocates and supporters of its public propaganda, have grown 
weary, or deem they have done enough, and think half a score of years 
effort, devoted to the cause of eternity, is sufficient for one lifetime. But of 
all whose faces are seen no more in the ranks of the mighty army of 
progression, in this American Babylon, we know of but few untruthful 
enough to deny the facts of Spiritualism, or renounce its faith, however 
valueless it may have become to them. Many of its once prominent advo- 
cates have grown tired of shouldering the sins, foUies, and shortcomings of 
those who, called in from life's highways and byways, are truly spiritually 
"sick, and in need of the physician." Others deem the cost is too great, 
and count a thousand dollars laid up in the National Treasury of America, 
or invested in the bank of popular opinion, represented by popular churches 



» AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 511 

and popular preachers, better worth keeping than ten thousand times that 
sum paid as its usury, from the eternal treasuries of a just and compensative 
hereafter. 

To one of those who had thus put his hand to the plough and turned back, 
the author lately queried, "And do you still call yourself a Spiritualist?" 
"In belief, I certainly am;" was the reply, "for how can I unknow, what I 
have once known." And herein consists the real difference between Spirit- 
ualism and every other form of belief Sectarian religionists believe without 
knowledge : Spiritualists know, and therefore believe. 

Still we repeat, the belief in its abiding truth and consoling phenomena, is 
more than ever rife in the hearts of the people, and in the opening of the 
new era that dawns with the inauguration of liberty for every child of the 
great new world, we look to see New York once more the mighty fortress 
it has. been of yore, in the spiritual faith. 

In Boston, Spiritualism appears to have recuperated more rapidly from the 
paralyzing effects of the war. Here a few faithful and zealous workers who 
are more concerned to reorganize its scattered ranks, than to " make it pay," 
have engaged Music Hall, the large and handsome building formerly occupied 
by the followers of the late lamented Theodore Parker, and here the spiritual 
meetings, up to this date, have assumed a prominence and importance never 
exceded in the history, of the movement. 

The follo-\ving extracts from the Ban7ier of Lights will give an idea of the 
magnitude and interest of those gatherings. 

" MUSIC HALL SPIRITUAL MEETINGS." 

"Boston, October 19, 1867. 

*' The first of the course of twenty-eight lectures on Spiritualism was given in Music 
Hall, in this city, Sunday afternoon, October 6, by Judge Edmonds, of New York, to a very 
large audience. It is noticeable that quite a change has taken place in the public mind 
^^-ithin a few years on J;his important subject. On the above occasion, the largest hall in 
the city was filled almost to overflowing with the most intelligent part of the community. 
All the daily papers had reporters present, who gave an impartial report of Judge Edmonds' 
address, without adding one word of slur or ridicule. This is only worthy of mention to 
show that intelligent minds from amongst all denominations are anxious to become better 
acquainted with the truths of the spiritual philosophy. This fact, too, was made evident by 
the close attention which each one gave to the words of the speaker. 

"These meetings are under the sole direction of Mr. Lysander Richards, backed by a num- 
ber of prominent and worthy Spiritualists who have chosen L. B. Wilson to act as treasurer. 
The most available talent in our ranks has been secured for this series of lectures, and we 
are pleased to notice that the entire course bids fair to be a complete success. 

" One of the most pleasing incidents of the occasion was the appearance on the platform, 
of the children of the Mercantile HaU Lyceum to the number of nearly one hundred, accom- 
panied by their teachers. They marched through the streets of Boston, with their flags and 
badges, creating a novel sensation [as it was the first appearance of the lyceum in our 
streets] ; and filing into the hall, took their places on the platform with the utmost possible 

order and decorum Surrounded by these little buds of promise, Judge 

Edmonds appeared as happy as though he had found heaven upon earth. It was at his 
special request that they were allowed to occupy the platform, as he said, to give him inspira- 
tion." 

A few weeks later the Banner of Light gives a second account of the 
Music Hall meetings as follows : 

"MUSIC HALL MEETINGS. 

" The success of the course of lectures on Spiritualism in Music Hall, Sunday afternoons, 
thus far is unprecedented. The audiences have largely increased each Sunday ; and on the 
27th of October, 1867, at the closing lecture by Thomas Gales Forster, over two thousand 



512 HISTORY OF MODERN » 

persons were present, making as intelligent and respectable looking an assembly as co.ilcl le 
seen anyi^fliere in tlie 'Athens of America.' The lectures given by Mr. Forster diu-ing 
the last three weeks would be sufficient to establish the reputation of any speaker, had he 
not previously, like Mr. F., held the high position of one of the most profound thinkers of 
the age. 

"It was a pleasing scene to witness the children of the lyceum surrounding the speaker 
on the platform, and note their smiling and happy faces whilst listening to the melodious 

sti"ains of the organ A beautiful illustration of spirit communion was then 

manifested. The spirit controlling the spealcer said ' there were several bright spirits of 
children present, who wished him to transmit their messages of love to their parents.' 
Amongst them, he said, was one Anna Cora Wilson, daughter of the treasurer, whose en- 
trance to spirit life took place nine years ago this day ; a correct statement of which Mr. 
Forster had no previous knowledge. 

" The speaker then gave a message from this bright spirit to her parents, breathing the 
warmest sentiments of filial affection, and so unmistakably characteristic, as to be readily 
recognized. 

" Then the spirits of two young children, whose parent resided at Cambridge, addressed 
their mother, who was present and at once recognized and accepted her darlings' messages 
of love. These practical illustrations of spirit communion very sensibly affected the au- 
dience, and many an eye was moistened with tears; not tears of dispair, but of joy, and a 
hope which such knowledge of the future alone can give." 

On May, lo, 1868, Warren Chase addressed an immense audience in 
Music Hall, Boston, by whom he was enthusiastically received. 

Thus it is evident the public aspect of the cause continues to increase in 
numbers and success, and that the experiment of hiring the largest place of 
meeting in the State of Massachusetts, for spiritual meetings has resulted in 
demonstrating its increasing popularity. 

Meantime, most of the mediums heretofore mentioned in connection with 
Boston Spiritualism are still at their posts, whilst numbers of new develop- 
ments are constantly swelling their ranks. 

Sunday meetings numerously attended are held in Mercantile Hall, Boston, 
Cambridgeport, Chelsea, East Boston, Charlestown, and every suburb in and 
around the city, 

The Banner of Light office, of which a full account will be given hereafter, 
still continues to distribute the bread of spiritual life in many directions, in- 
cluding the publication of its admirable journal, the extensive sale of spiritual 
literature, its exhibitions of spirit pictures, and its free circles. Perhaps the 
latter may be regarded as amongst the most extraordinary psychological phe- 
nomena of the day. They are conducted through the mediumship of Mrs. 
Fanny Conant, a lady who for several years past has been influenced by 
spirits of every rank, grade of life, and development of mind. These invisible 
guests throng the circle room which the editors of the Banner of Light, widi 
noble and exemplary generosity, open free to the public. And there, as oppor- 
tunity permits, they pour forth, through the entranced organism of Mrs. Conant, 
the tale of their earthly lives, their vices and errors, their bitter lamentation for 
earthly lives misspent, messages of love and consolation to absent friends, warn- 
ings, encouragement, and every description of characteristic communication 
that could be conceived of as emanating from the heterogeneous conditions 
of human existence. And all this is represented in the voice, tone, gestures, 
and even the countenance of this v/onderful meduun, widi such graphic fidelity 
that a witness with closed eyes might readily persuade himself, he was in the 
actual presence of all the varied characters thus delineated. The accuracy of 
these remarkable spirit personations is further attested by hundreds of letters 
addressed to the Banner of Light by total strangers, who have read and 
recogniy-^ed the printed messages from their spirit friends. 

A parent society for State niissionary labor has been formed in Massachu- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 5 1 3 

settS; which has effected an immense amount of good, besides stimu^Hing 
other states to follow its example, so that excellent associations for sending 
the best missionary talent in the field to all those points which have not the 
advantage of local organizations, are springing up in every direction, and dis- 
seminating the pure and consoling doctrines of Spiritualism throughout the 
length and breadth of the land. 

The tendency to crystallize into local organizations, has never been exhib- 
ited in such universality as since the termination of the war. In some form 
or other, the Spiritualists of America seem to be drawn by the force of irre- 
sistible attraction into concrete associations in every direction. It were 
needless, at this time, to speculate upon the operating cause of this tendency : 
it would be rash to predicate its ultimate effects upon the cause. It is enough 
to notice the fact ; and we shall now present a few extracts from the corres- 
pondents' column of the Banner of Light, illustrative of the number and na- 
ture of the various associative movements that are proceeding with astonish- 
ing spontaneity to gather together the scattered forces of Spiritualism all over 
the States. 

"SPIRITUALISM AT MARLBORO', MASSACHUSETTS, 1868. 

"The Spiritualists of this flourishing to^vn have just formed a society of which James 

Giles, Esq., is president, Mrs. Harriet N. Taylor, secretary Dr. H. B. 

Storer opened the series of meetings last Sunday The audience were 

large, deeply interested, and in harmonious sympathy with the cheering and elevating prin- 
ciples announced." 

Letters from Portland, Maine, — the business portions of which had been 
almost destroyed by the desolating fire of 1866, — announced that the Spir- 
itualists, after having suffered, collectively and individually, most ruinously 
from the effects of the conflagration, had resumed their meetings in 1868 
by organizing into the " First Society of Spiritualists," hiring a suitable hall 
for their Sunday services, and pressing into the ranks all their old and well- 
tried champions with renewed spirit and energy. One of the letters from this 
noble band of progressionists concludes in these words : 

" The children's lyceum lost all their effects by the fire, but the fire of determination still 
burned steadily, and we have ' rallied round the flags again.' " 

"We shall quote a spirited account of the cause at Washington, D. C, from 
a letter to the Bamier of Light, as follows : 

"SPIRITUALISM AT THE CAPITAL. 

"For several weeks past the Spiritualists of Washington have been occupied in the 
preparation of a hall as a permanent home for themselves and other friends of truth and 
progi'ess. 

"Nobly and well have they worked, heart with heart and hand with hand, in this de- 
sirable effort, until the result is successfully achieved. 

" Although the Spiritualists here are neither strong nor wealthy, the subscriptions and 
donations have amounted to over twelve hundred dollars ; and this by a society which was 

not organized until the beginning of the present year [1867] Our spiritual 

brethren in Philadelphia kindly transmitted to us a donation by the hands of Dr. Cliild, as 
a token of their fraternal interest. 

"Bright and glorious dawned the morning of the dedication of our new hall, Sunday, 
October 6, 1S67. Bright and happy were the dear faces congregated together on that 
auspicious morning, and cordial the gi-eetings that passed amongst them in the realization 
of a permanent religious home in the nation's capital 

"The hall is seventy-five feet long, and twenty-five feet wide, neatly but handsomely 

33 



514 HISTORY OF MODERN 

decorated by oiu" brother Steinberg, who, in this work, has contributed not less than ens 

hundred and fifty dollars to the cause On the rear of the platform is a 

finely-toned harmonium ; at the front, the speaker's desk, a neat, conical pedestal, painted 
to represent white marble, having a purple panel m front, on which is written in gold let- 
ters : ' Are they not all ministering spirits ? ' 

" At the back of the platform are three shields in fresco, adorned in letters of gold with 
such sentiments as ' Glory to God in the highest ; on earth peace and good will to men.' 

" Handsome colums surround the hall, adorned with shields bearing such inscriptions as 
'Truth,' 'Justice,' 'Charity,' etc. 

" The platform and area in front of it are carpeted, and the aisles matted. 

" The German ladies of our society, true to their innate love of the beautiful, had 
decorated the platfoiun and hall with vases of flowers and evergreens. The panels on the 
walls were adorned with likenesses of many of the prominent Spiritualists, and beautifid 
specimens of spirit drawings, executed through the mediumship of Mrs. Laurie, Mrs. Young, 
and Mrs. Colby. The spirit likeness of Professor Dayton — the noble controlling spirit of 
Thomas Gales Forster — by Rogers, and an exquisite spirit picture of the daughter of 
Dr. Mayhew, by Anderson, also adorn the apartment." 

The lectures delivered in this pure and choice home of the spirits, mortal 
and immortal, have been characterized by an exaltation of tone and a sym- 
pathetic beauty, which pleads strongly in favor of consecrated places, and 
scenes specially magnetized by the high and holy purposes for which they are 
set apart. 

At first the new hall was but moderately filled, and that with the friends 
personally interested in its services. In the year 1868 the reports from 
Washington lament that their hall is "not nearly large enough" to accommo- 
date the overflowing crowds who throng to hear the spiritualistic doctrines 
presented by the ablest speakers in the field, liberally engaged by the spirited 
society. An excellent and fully attended children's lyceum holds its sessions 
in connection with the Sunday meetings, and several charitable organizations 
are in contemplation under the auspices of the Spiritualists. 

In Philadelphia, Providence, New York, Baltimore, Bangor, Troy, Albany, 
Buffalo, and indeed most of the large Eastern towns, chartered societies, 
of Spiritualists have been formed, children's progressive lyceums are reg- 
ularly sustained, and additional societies are constantly organizing. In Cin- 
cinnati, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago, Milwaukee, Springfield, 
Illinois, and all the large Western cities, regular associations chartered by the 
laws of the States as "religious societies" have been fomied, and in each 
town one if not two and three Sabbath meetings, a numerous lyceum, and 
several minor associative movements are in active operation. 

In Michigan and Ohio nearly every town, large and small, has formed a 
regular and well-sustained spiritual association. Several free churches and 
meeting-houses have been erected by the Spiritualists, and the noble example 
of the Sturgis and Washington Spiritualists in providing their own "spiritual 
homes," is fast being imitated all over the States. 

Letters from Terra Haute, Hannibal, and Princeton, Missouri ; Adrian, 
Hillsdale, and other small towns in Michigan, Indiana, and Tennessee, an- 
nounce in enthusiastic terms the fonnation of spiritual societies under State 
charters, and the growing success which attends their meetings. 

Unless our space would admit of publishing the immense mass of testi- 
mony which pours in each week from every part of the States concerning 
the increasing interests in Spiritualism, and the irresistible tendency of its 
ranks to resolve into associative bodies, the real status of the cause in 1868 
could not be duly estimated. 

We are enabled to state from authentic and carefully collected testimony, 
that six hundred spiritual associations have been formed in America during 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM 515 

the last hvo years. We cannot reaffirm all the enthusiastic representations 
of correspondents concerning the success of these meetings, which still, as we 
know from experience, retain much of the heterogeneous and transitory nature 
which characterize new movements, especially in one which, like Spiritu- 
alism, promotes such strongly marked individuality of disposition in all who 
belong to it ; but these efforts, however embryotic they may be, conclusively 
represent the signs of the times, and are prophetic of a future for Spiritualism 
as powerful and unitary, as the purposes of the hosts that are now influ- 
encing men to the fulfilment of their destiny. That the reader may better 
understand the real tone and condition of the cause, as it at present exists in 
localities less prominently represented than the large towns and cities, we 
shall conclude this chapter by bringing him in sympathy with the working 
bees of the hive, and invite him to peruse a few extracts form the correspon- 
dence of the Banner of Light in 1868. 

"Troy, Portage Co., Ohio. 

"It has been three years since I appeared before tlie public as a lecturer, but realizing 
that it is the duty of all who are blessed with the inspiration of the angel world to go forth 
and labor for human progress, I have followed the advice of a late article in the Banne7' of 
Light, by taking my ' carpet-bag,' and placing myself under the protection of my unseen 
guides, made my way In the first instance to Thompson, Geauaga County, Ohio, where I 
found Spiritualism in a very flourishing condition. 

" The Spiritualists purchased an old church last summer, rebuilt it, and have been fortu- 
nate in securing the services of Brother Kellog, an able speaker, and earnest worker, for a 
certain portion of each year It was in this place that I made my first ap- 
pearance before the world as a trance speaker, and you may imagine the pleasure it gave me 
to be greeted by a very large audience after an absence of more than eight years. 
My next visit was to Leroy, where I spoke twice to large and appreciative audiences, prom- 
ising to return and hold a two days' meeting in the sunny days of June. 

" I next passed to the pleasant village of Kirtland, which formerly acquired such celebrity 
as the seat of the Mormons. The temple which they built there over thirty years ago, still 
stands, a monument of folly and superstition. 

"I thought, as I gazed upon its massive walls and tall steeples, of the many hearts that 
had bled, and the tears that had fallen, amongst the families who had been robbed of bread 
to erect that costly structure. There are but two or three of that faith now residing in 
Kirtland ; one is Martin Harris, who says that he is the mediator between God and man, 
and that Zion will yet reign in Kirtland. 

" I gave two lectures there February the 2d, the Spiritualists occupying the Baptist 
church, whose congregation has gone to naught." 

"H. L. Clark." 

"LETTER FROM H, P. FAIRFIELD.— BANNER OF LIGHT, 1868. 

" It may be gratifying to Spiritualists to know that our cause is steadily moving on in the 
great West. Speaking in Iowa City, last March, the Rev. Mr. Kenny, Universalist minis- 
ter, offered us the use of his church, himself attending my lectures. In April I spoke for 
the live society of Spiritualists in Rock Island, Illinois ; large audiences gi-eeted me. The 
lyceum was in fine condition, and the people are M'orkers. 

" May, with its prairie flowers, found me in New Boston, Illinois. The people are earn- 
est, with none of the old religious superstition clinging to them. The opposition consists 
of the small fragments of a decaymg society. Spiritualism is ' the word of the Lord ' in 
New Boston. 

" June's roses and heaven's blessing found me in Quincy, Illinois, — beautiful, flourishing 
place, but sordid people. A few noble souls save the city, amongst them, Mrs. Belle 
Scougale Brown, one of our former most successful speakers. She is still a great help to 
the cause. 

" In Galesburg, the city of learning, I found Spiritualism struggling under a mass of 
theologic superstition, and ecclesiastical dogma Several mediums are in pro- 
cess of fine spiritual development here. 



5l6 HISTORY OF MODERN 

"During my engagement at Galesburg, I was invited by Mr. Osgood to visit Oneida, 
III, and give a course of lectures. The Universalists gave us the use of their church, the 
Rev. Mr. Gorton, the clergyman, attending, and assisting in the singing. At the close of 
the lecture, and when the audience were permitted to ask questions, t]ie Rev. Mr. Miller, a 
Universalist missionary for the North-west Conference, asked, ' Will any of your spirit 
mediums submit to a trial of the signs and tests like the apostles of old ? ' 

" I replied, ' Certainly, I will, for one. The signs were promised, to believers and I am a 
believer. ' 

" ' Well,' said he, 'I want to mix a dose of arsenic, and pour it down your throat. Will 
you submit, like the apostles, to that test ? ' 

" ' I was not aware that it had ever been tried upon them,' was my reply ; 'neverthe- 
less, if you insist, I will submit.' I then demanded immediate action on his 

part ; but this readiness of mine was too much for him, and backing down, he said I 
wanted him to commit murder. I continued to press him to carry out his plan, or discuss 
with me ; and the audience, seeing him caught in his own trap, loudly cheered ; but the rev- 
erand gentleman continued to decline, and finally hastened away from the church." . . 

Another glance at Western Spiritualism is afforded by a letter which the 
author addressed to the Ba7iner of Light during a recent visit to the States, 
and a short sojourn in the West. 

The letter is chiefly descriptive of the mediums upon whom the charge of 
propagating Spiritualism in the far West devolves. 

"OUR WESTERN MEDIUMS.— BY EMMA HARDINGE. 

'■'■ The land of the West is a living protest against the assertion of those 
whose wish is father to their word, to wit, ' that Spiritualism is dying out.' 
That Spiritualism, since the war, has existed in a transition state, 1 think 
none can deny, but we find no more reason to predicate its death, or believe 
in its decay, than we have to pronounce that the real life of the caterpillar is 
extinct when we see it in the chrysalitic shell, ere it emerges into the butter- 

fly 

" To me, one of the most sigificant signs of the present status Spiritual- 
ism has assumed, is its undiminished numbers, and the vast interest that our 
Sabbath meetings call forth, and that not only in my own experience, but in 
that of all my co-workers in the field. Another still more suggestive token 
of our cause and its increase, is the fact that the raw material for spiritual 
manifestations is found in superabundance in every stage of development 
amongst us. 

" Mediums, wholly or partially developed, are to be found in almost every 
family in the West, especially amongst the young people who attend the spir- 
itual lyceums. What a vast field of promise for future developments does 
this fact unfold ! Either the soil or the mental and physical atmosphere 
is favorable to the growth of spiritual gifts in the open-handed and open- 
hearted West, or else mediums gravitate there as by force of natural attrac- 
tion. Certain it is, that rare and abundant crops of spiritual gifts may be 
predicated from a glance over the harvest fields of the West, even in their 
present heterogeneous aspect. But to speak of the mediums already recog- 
nized as such in these Western lands, — Mattie Hulett and Belle Scougall, 
once bright stars in the spiritual firmament, diffuse the lustre of their beams 
now, over the tranquil scenes of home. Unfortunately for the admiring au- 
diences that once hung delighted on their eloquent utterances, these admired 
speakers have changed their names, and with them, their spheres of useful- 
ness have been removed from the rostrum to the domestic privacy of tlie 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 517 

fireside. A similar change has lately robbed the world of the invaluable ser- 
vices of Mrs. Nellie Wiltsie, a sweet little lady, whose graceful bearing and 
marvellous eloquence I have heard extolled throughout the West, without a 
dissenting voice.* 

"A. B. Whiting, the scholarly and poetic improvisatore of Michigan, is still 
at the good work ; and still as ever doing it in his own unsurpassed fashion. 
I once heard a scientific gentleman remark of Mr. Whiting : ' Wliat an anomaly 
this man is ! Nothing in his manners or conversation gives the least idea of 
superior mind or classical attainments ; yet the realms of antiquity and 
fields of classical lore seem to be open pages which he reads off with the 
ease of commonplace converse, when under what he calls his " spiritual in- 
fluence.' 

" I presume the West can no more claim the talented and indefatigable 
brothers, Wadsworth, Loveland, and N. F. White, as specialties, than it can 
myself; still we all love to be there, and labor, however onerous and in- 
evitable, is rendered infinitely pleasurable by the appreciative and affection- 
ate hospitalty that greets us there. But Mr. E. V. Wilson does seem to be 
a specialty in the West, and one so marked, that with his incontrovertible 
tests in public, private, here, there, and everywhere, he is a perfect Western 
' iconoclast,' against whose giant proofs of spiritual presence, the images 
of scepticism and superstition cannot maintain a moment's successful warfare. 

" In Ohio still resides Hudson Tuttle, the world-renowned medium, upon 
whom bright spirits seem to delight in showering every artistic and intellectual 
gift, in their power to confer. With him, his charming wife, one of the sweet- 
est poetesses of the age, distributes the bread of spiritual life to all around her. f 
William Denton and his highly gifted wife and sister, have also selected the 
West as their home, and the same preference has been accorded to the 
prairie country by Leo Miller. Abraham James, the celebrated discoverer of 
the artesian well in Chicago, is traversing the oil regions in search of favora- 
ble locations for digging, in which under spirit guidance, and in connection 
with his own remarkable clairvoyant powers, he is successful almost to a 
' miracle.' It would be impossible for me to record the names even, of the 
many excellent and faithful mediums who devote their fine gifts to the service 
of humanity throughout the length and breadth of the West. Two more only 
of the speakers whose noble service is revolutionizing public sentiment, v/ill 
my space permit me to name, and these are Dr. James Cooper, of Bellefon- 
taine, and Alcinda Wilhelm. Kind, patient, untiring, and each the centres 
of large and gratefully admiring circles of friends, these most excellent work- 
ers constitute a host in themselves. Dr. Cooper's sphere is somewhat limited 
by his medical practice, which retains him in proximity, to his home at Belle- 
fontaine ; but I have already followed in the track which dear Alcinda Wil- 
helm has sown with the blossoms of truth and immortality throughout nearly 
every state in the West, and in each, I may truly say, that the people "rise 
up and call her blessed." In test and phenomenal mediumship also, the West 
is richly endowed. Fair, fragile, and wonderful Annie Lord Chamberlain is 
in Ottawa, Illinois. Hovering between life and death, her very proximity to 
the spirit land seems to fit her especially to be the messenger for beings v/ho, 
though her frail organism, are able to outwork the most astonishing proofs of 
their presence that the records of Spiritualism can show. 

"I hear of many good mediums in Chicago, but cannot speak of them from 

* " We are happy to be able to add that Mrs. Wiltsie, as Mrs. Bronson, has resumed her grateful task of 
delighting and instructing her audiences as trance speaker. 

+ Of Hudson aad Emma Tuttle, William Denton, etc., a more extended notice will be found in a future 
volume. 



5i8 HISTORY OF MODERN 

personal knowledge. I might say thus much also of Mr. Henry Slade of 
Michigan, but though my own acquaintance with this estimable medium is 
limited to a brief correspondence, if I can place any confidence in the testi- 
mony of almost every Western Spiritualist I meet, Mr. Slade is one of the 
most extraordinary and gifted mediums of his age. Not a single endowment 
possessed by others is lacking in his wonderful power; added to which, all the 
most astounding physical phenomena commonly exhibited in dark circles, are 
freely produced through Mr. Slade in the full light of day. 

"Mrs. Corwin, the rapping medium, and Mrs. Eversole, the test clairvoyant 
are still at the post of duty they occupied in St. Louis seventeen years ago ; 
whilst Dr. and Mrs. Starkey, late arrivals in that city, — the doctor as an edu- 
cated physician, and his amiable wife as one of the best clairvoyants of the 
day, — are adding laurels to' the cause by their highly successful and beneficent 
acts of healing performed under the inspiration of their wise spirit guardians. 

" In Cincinnati, I had the pleasure of spending some time in the dear and 
hospitable home of most valued friends, Mr. and Mrs. Beck, with whom re- 
sides Miss Lizzie Keizer, whose astonishing powers as a seeing, test, and 
trance medium, I consider to exceed anything I have yet witnessed in spir- 
itual phenomena.* 

" Another of the ' Western institutions,' and one which has wrought an in- 
calculable amount of good and use in the comn:unity, is Mr. J. M. Peebles, 
the talented Western editor of the Banner of Light. By his scholarly writings 
and indefatigable labors as a lecturer, Mr. Peebles has been a gigantic lever 
in moving public opinion in favor of the spiritual belief, and the repudiation 
of the effete superstition of old orthodoxy. Being a gra.ceful and accomplished 
orator, Mr. Peebles' service is in eager demand throughout the whole 
community ; but, as the scene of his earliest and most widely diffused ef- 
forts, the West undoubtedly claims him for her own, and as such he is num- 
bered amongst her jewels, and forms a distinguished part of her spiritual 
wealth. 

"There are more, many more, faithfully toiling, and effectively laboring to 
spread this gospel over the land, who work to bitter disadvantage, I might say 
almost in martyrdom, in the present broken, confused, and inorganic state of 
the cause. 

"Many of these are scarce sufficiently paid to enable them to meet the cur- 
rent expenses of their hard and toilsome journeyings ; few, sufficiently appre- 
ciated to answer the cravings of their painfully sensitive natures, or recom- 
pense them for the bitter woof of isolation and persecution which their un- 
popular calling entails upon them. Some such as these I know slightly, but 
many more I could write of did time and opportunity permit, who are stran- 
gers to me personally, but dear brothers and sisters in the faithful, untiring 
and patient labors they perform. I know they are sinking beneath the 
weight of a very heavy cross, for I have seen the tracks of their bleeding 
feet as they toil their way up to Calvary. 

"Take heart of grace, poor pilgrims ! Thy nameless footprints made on 
earth, are the foundation lines in which the car of thy glorious destiny will 
run through eternity. Nothing good, not even a kindly wish, or pitying sigh, 
is lost in heaven. Thy work will precede thee there, and there be treasured 
up ; and out of the few small loaves and fishes of human effort, thou shalt 
gather up full many a basket load of spiritual wealth, coined in the eternal 
treasure houses of another and a better world ! " 

* As Miss Keizer will also be the subject of a separate notice, we omit other portions of the letter descriptive 
of her mediumship. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 519 

Our concluding extract will be taken from the notes of travel, by one of 
the ablest and most indefatigable workers in the spiritual field, namel)^, Dean 
Clark, the trance speaker. After enumerating the various places in which he 
had labored during the year 1867, including numerous towns in Massachu- 
setts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and other New England States, in all of 
which he speaks of the vast interest and large audiences -v^dth which he was 
greeted, he sums up the earthly rewards of his spiritual missionary's labors thus : 

" Thus has passed a year of arduous struggle for the right, fraught with joy and son'ow, 
hope and disappointment, self-denial and severe discipline ; all indispensable lessons of life, 
to fit me for service to my fellow-men, which, though grievous to be borne, have been for 
my highest good. For my services, I have received $480! more than a fourth of which 
was expended in travelling ; the remainder sufficed to keep my companion and myself from 
the poorhouse, and enabled me to follow the precept of laying up treasures in heaven only, 
to my heart's content. 

" But though meagrely compensated by mortals, yet the immortals have showered their 
blessings upon me in profusion ; and in gratitude for all I have received, I thank God and 
take courage, while I begin another year of labor with the determination to perform my 
humble part faithfully in doing good wherever I may roam." 

By the last two extracts, we design to represent in a,ll fidelity, the dark as 
well as the bright side of the pictiire ; to contrast the struggles of human effort, 
with the astonishing results so little expected or comprehended by the laborers 
themselves. 

There is nothing more remarkable, in fact, in the whole spiritual movement 
than the vast numbers which have joined the ranks of an army whose leaders 
are of the humblest and whose legions scarcely realize the meaning of dis- 
cipline or the ordinary methods of essential action. The human propaganda 
on the one side is a scene of toil, care, discomfiture, and not unfrequently of 
sordid penury. The results achieved are brilliant, triumphant, and in'esistible 
successes for the growth and progress of Spiritualism. 

Compare the two, and then ask how can we solve the problem without the 
intervention of a mighty and all-conquering army of resei-ve, whose hosts up- 
hold tlie fainting hands of the mortal, by the unfailing strengdi and power of 
the iimnortaL 



S20 HISTORY OF MODERN 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

THE "GUI BONO" OF SPIRITUALISM. 

" Angels, where e'er we go, attend 
Our steps, what e'er betide. 
With watchful care their charge defend. 
And evil turn aside. 

.' Myriads of bright cherubic bands 

Sent by the King of kings, 
Rejoice to bear us in their hands. 
And shade us with their wings." 

Hymns of C. Wesley. 

"Cui Bono?" 

The question which forms the caption of this chapter, seems totally inap- 
plicable to any subject capable of bearing a high religious interpretation, for 
the demonstrated facts of Spiritualism at once and forever set at rest the 
question of the soul's immortality. They open up the precious and consoling 
intercourse between loving hearts which the solemn mystery of death seems 
to have forever divided. They dispel the phantoms of gloom, horror, and 
uncertainty to which superstition and ignorance have given birth, and reveal 
the death angel clothed in garments of celestial light, conducting the shiver- 
ing souls of humanity, not into inconceivable states of sepulchral sleep, or 
scarcely less desirable conditions of everlasting torture, or everlasting hea- 
venly psalm-singing, but into the second and higher stage of an eternal series 
of progressive existences. They teach and prove, as far as the witness of 
another can do so, the just, equitable, and reasonable doctrines of compensa- 
tion, retribution, progress, individual responsibility, eternal self-conscious- 
ness, and equally eternal affection between the spirits who love each other. 

The whole range of spiritual phenomena point conclusively to the truths 
of spiritual doctrines ; placing religion no longer on the foundations of fleet- 
ing human opinion, human assertion, or theory, but on the enduring basis of 
scientific facts, which can neither be unknown when once known, or disproved 
by the weight of ten thousand sectarian opinions. 

The scientific suggestions, too, with which Spiritualism abounds, opening 
up for the first time in the history of man's intellectual progress, a clue to the 
mysteries of mental and vital science, present the grandest lields of discovery 
that the inquiring soul of man has ever trodden ; and yet, in despite of all this, 
arid a thousand more stars of brightness, beauty, and blessing, which the 
telescopic light of the spirit has disclosed in the firmament of mortal existence, 
the cry is still re-echoed by those who can no longer disprove the truth of 
spiritual phenomena, or refute its doctrines, " Granted all you say is true ; 
yet,— what is the use of it?" The only satisfaction to be derived from the 
reiteration of this senseless phrase is, the evidence it affords that antagonism 
has grown desperate, and unable any longer to maintain the attitude of bold 
denial, ends in an attempt to depreciate the value of that which it can no 
longer disprove. 

For the benefit of those mere utilitarians, Avho may be unable to appreciate 
the stupendous aims which Spiritualism embraces in its scientific and religious 
aspect, and to show in what an infinite variety of ways the captious question 
cui Ji0no can be answered, we shall devote this chapter to a detail of the petty 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 521 

incidents which abound in myriads of spiritual experiences ; demonstrating 
the unceas ng care, watchful guardianship, and providential ministry whicli 
kind spirit friends can and do exert for the benefit of earth's children, Avhen 
their organisms are susceptible of spiritual influences. Let it be remembered 
that in this connection we only present one of the most simply utilitarian 
phases of Spiritualism, and that without touching on the sum of its high and 
elevating tendencies, briefly glanced at in the opening of this chapter. Also, 
as our 7'epertoire in this, as in every other direction in spiritualistic history, 
is overstocked wdth coincident testimony, we shall pursue the plan adopted 
throughout this record, and merely give single specimens of the class of mani- 
festations to which each case cited, belongs. 

In the New York Conference of June 9, 1858, Mr. Hootee, a well-known 
and highly esteemed Spiritualist of Maryland, being present, related the fol- 
lowing facts, which occurred under his own observation, and verified h^ sev- 
eral witnesses, who were members of the Conference. "Mr. H." had lent 
his frend Mr. S. ^^500, for which he took his note, payable wdthin a certain 
length of time. 

Mr. S. resided at Annapolis, and, a few days after the loan, was visited by 
' Mr. H., who requested him to oblige him wdth another note, as he had unfor- 
tunately lost or mislaid the first one. To his amazement and horror, Mr. S. 
coolly denied any knowledge of the transaction, and insisted that he had 
never borrowed any money from Mr. H. Finding all attemjjts to move his 
dishonest creditor to a sense of shame or justice in vain, Mr. H. departed to 
consult a lawyer in Annapolis, Avho decided, however, that there was no rem- 
edy provided for him by the law. The unfortunate gentleman returned to 
his home in great distress of mind. 

One day, as he was passing through a chamber in his house, he was sud- 
denly encountered by a stranger, who, with the rapidity of thought, told him 
the note which he had mislaid was deposited with the clerk of the court, at 
Annapolis. As the stranger spoke, the vivid recollection of his having left 
the note there for greater safety, rushed into his mind. By some mysterious 
process of thought which he could not explain, the scene of the court-house, 
the clerk's room, and a bureau full of drawers, seemed to flit before his eyes ; 
his gaze, however, w^as vividly fastened upon a particular drawer, and withia 
it he saw, or seemed to see, the lost note. At this portion of his "dream, 
vision, or mental transfiguration," whatever the condition might be in which 
he found himself, he raised his eyes to the stranger, whom he then for the 
first time recognized as his father, who had been dead for many years. Be- 
fore the thrill of strange "mingled delight and fear which he experienced 
at this sight had passed away, the visionary figure, smiling tenderly upon him, 
melted into thin air and w^as gone. 

Mr H. was so powerfully affected by this apparition, that for some time 
he could not compose himself sufiiciently to seek his wife and to her relate 
the circumstances which had transpired. Although she felt much doubt of 
the reality of the vision, attributing it to her husband's disturbed state of 
mind, Mrs. H. advised him to go to Annapolis and inquire of the clerk 
whether he had not received the note from him. Mr. H. followed her ad- 
vice ; and whilst the clerk was demurring as to whether Mr. H. had really 
placed such a document in his hand, the latter, fixing his eyes upon a bureau 
that stood in the office, entreated him to search a particular drawer to which 
he pointed. The clerk hesitated. The place was an unusual one, but at Mr. 
H.'s urgent request he complied, and found the missing note, at the very top 



522 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

of the drawer, where it had been temporarily deposited, and forgotten by bath 
parties. 

"MURDER REVEALED BY SPIRITS. 

The inhabitants of New Martinsville, Virginia, will remember the circum- 
stances attending the detection of a murder which was committed about 1846, 
the guilt of which was obviously revealed by the spirit of the murdered man 
himself 

The following are the particulars of this singular case : Two men by the 
respective names of Gamble and Mercer, had some money transactions pend- 
ing between them, and on a certain day left their residence. New Martinsville, 
Virginia, for the avowed purpose ot settling their business. Some miles 
from the town, a witness was called in at a public house where the parties 
were staying, to testify to the payment of a sum of money which Mr. Mer- 
cer handed over to Mr. Gamble. After this transaction, the parties separated. 
The witness left the scene, for town. Mr. Mercer mounted his horse, and 
Mr. Gamble got into his boat, then lying at the ferry, for the avowed purpose 
of pursuing his way some distance up the river. From this time Gamble was 
missed ; and after a diligent search for him instituted by his friends, his boat 
was found tied to a raft, empty; but time passed away without any tidings of 
its owner. 

At length, after the lapse of six months, the body of the unfortunate man 
was found in the river, and although readily identified by the clothes, it was 
too much decomposed to enable the jury to determine the manner of de- 
cease. Thus matters remained for nearly four years, when the interest which 
it excited was revived by the following incident : A party of citizens of New 
Martinsville went some distance from the town to a " husking." On their 
way home, some difference of opinion arose amongst them about the com- 
parative distance of two roads. To prove the facts, they separated, and 
agreed to meet at a certain place. The route of one party lay in the vicinity 
of the river, just at the point where the body of Gamble had been found. 

In this company was a gentleman by the name of Hineman, who, com- 
plaining of fatigue, left his friends to pursue a shorter path across the fields. 
The evening was far advanced, and Mr. Hineman had not proceeded far on 
his route when he met a man who suddenly appeared in his way and accosted 
him with the remark, " You do not know me." Mr. H. examined the fea- 
tures of his interrogator, but in the dim light was unable to recognize any 
one he had ever known. Upon this, the stranger added, "I am John Gam- " 
ble, whom Zeb Mercer murdered." These words were spoken in a clear tone 
of voice, after which the stranger proceeded to detail the circumstances of 
the murder, complained that the community had not rendered him justice, 
arranged certain questions by which the murderer could be convicted, and 
urged that Mr. Hineman should have Mercer arrested. He then vanished as 
suddenly as he had appeared. Notwithstanding the circumstantial character 
of this interview, Mr. Hineman on rejoining his party could scarcely be per- 
suaded that some one of their number had not been practicing deception upon 
him. 

As they all strenuously denied it, however, he determined to take further 
steps to ascertain the character of the apparition. For this purpose, and 
without communicating his intention to any one, he returned the next night 
to the exact spot where he had seen the apparition. 

The moon was clear ; the place furnished not the slightest chance for 
concealment ; and though he waited some time for the return of the spirit in 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 523 

vain, he was convinced that no human being could, iu that path, ha^ e ap- 
peared and disappeared so suddenly without detection. Thus musing, he 
began to retrace his steps, when he was again suddenly confronted with the 
apparition of John Gamble, who, after repeating the same words as on the 
preceding night, disappeared in the clear open space lighted by the bright 
moonbeams, before Mr. Hineman had recovered from his surprise. 

Impressed with this second visitation beyond the power of his natural and 
intense scepticism to resist, Mr. Hineman the next day sent for the accused 
party and had him arrested on the charge of Gamble's murder. On the 
trial which ensued, Mr. Hineman testified on oath to the circumstances above 
related. The conclusion of this extraordinary trial may be gathered from a 
letter addressed to the Spiritical Telegraph by the Rev. John B. Wolfe, in 
which, after detailing the circumstances above narrated, the editor adds : 

"A private letter, just received from a highly intelligent gentleman now employed in one of 
the departments at Washington, 'corroborates the essential facts in the above statement. 

" Om- correspondent adds: ' I have the statement from a lawyer, who interested him- 
self at the time of the supposed murder in trying to trace out the guilty perpetrator of the 
crime, and he had gathered together a number of facts which pointed strongly to the very 
man who has now confessed the murder. As they were not conclusive, however, he kept 
them to himself until now, when, seeing in a Wheeling journal the account above alluded 
to, he told me of his loiowledge of the affair. ' " 

The Olean Journal has a somewhat humorous account of a discovery 
which at one time excited great interest amongst the Spiritualists of Ohio ; 
but as their accounts partook of an enthusiastic tone scarcely in keeping 
with so very matter-of-fact a subject, we shall quote the facetious editor's own 
words in detailing a little domestic invention which he calls — 

"TURNING SPIRITUALISM TO A PRACTICAL ACCOUNT. 

"It has been very generally supposed by the opponents of the new 'spiritual' theories, 
that the Spiritualists were a poor, indolent, deluded set, who wasted their substance in pur- 
suit of indefinable phantoms, and evanescent jack-o'-lanterns. We lately heard of an in- 
stance in which it has been of benefit to one individual, if not to many others. The reader 
is aware that a year or more ago, the ' spirits' who haunt the region of the ' Kiantone,' 
Chautauque County, revealed to one of the initiated of that region, a recipe for concocting 
* spiritual soap. ' 

' ' This recipe finally came into the hands of an enterprising Spiritualist of this county, 
who shortly after sold it to a Connecticut gentleman for several thousand dollars cash in 
hand. Our friend who made the sale is an ardent, genuine Spiritualist, and having spent a 
vast amount of money in promulgating the new doctrine, probably felt himself justified in 
getting back a portion of his investment. 

" The down-easter who has bought the recipe, is already beginning to realize a handsome 
return for his investment." 

In the Telegraph papers of 1854 is the following communication from a 
highly respectable citizen of Toronto, Canada West, Mr, R. V. Wilson : 

"THIEF TRACED BY SPIRIT INFORMATION. 

" Friend Brittan, — The following fact took place in my own personal experience. 
On the 27th of September, 1S53, Mr. G. R., a young man in our employ, made off with 
^400 of our money in his possession. On the 2d of October following, Mr. Mcintosh, 



524 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

merchant of this city, saw Mr. R. in the cars, and learned that he was bound for California. 
On the 8th of October, I received a letter from R. himself, written in a most insolent and 
profane tone, warning me to desist from the endeavors I was making to trace and arrest him, 
as he was ' bound for California, and would be gone before I could receive that letter.' 

"Besides feeling indignant at the insulting tone of the delinquent, I was much distressed 
at the loss of the money. On reading R.'s letter to my wife, she, who had herself no confi- 
dence m Spiritualism, yet was aware of my interest in the subject, half jestingly remarked^ 
• Why don't you consult the spirits? ' I replied that I had never thought of doing so, but 
would then and there make the attempt. Accordingly, we sat down to the table, when, 
after the usual manifestations of the spirits' presence, my wife's brother. Palmer, announced 
himself The interview that ensued I will detail as follows : 

" ^. * Palmer, can you give me any information about Mr. R., who has our money?' 

^^ A. 'I do do not know. Can you introduce me to any of his relatives, that I may make 
the acquaintance of some of his spirit friends.' 

"I mentioned some of R.'s friends, when the spirit left us for about fifteen minutes. 
When he returned, he spelled out, 'I will now try to find him for you.' In half an hour. 
Palmer returned again and spelled out the following : * Mr. R. has not gone to California, 
but is in Ohio. His partner, N. G., is now at 8 Weston Row, Cincinnati. R. will be 
in Cincinnati in two days, and I will lead you to him if you will undertake to find him.' 

" The next morning I telegraphed to A. C. Porter, of Cincinnati, to find out if N. G. 
was at 8 Weston Row. In five hours I received an answer in the afiirmative. 

" That night I checked out money to prosecute my search after R. with, at which my part- 
ner, to whom I related my plans and their inducement, was foolish enough to write on the 
check, ' Spiritualism- Wilson is on a wild-goose chase.' 

" On the evening specified by the spirit, I was in Cincinnati. I called for a room at the 
Burnet House, sat down to the table, and had spelled out by the spirit of Palmer: 'R. is at 
the National Theatre, Look at the boxes.' At eight o'clock, p.m., I walked into the the- 
atre, and there, looking up into the boxes, beheld the thief comfortably seated eating peanuts. 
I instantly departed, applied to Judge Spooner for a warrant, returned with two constables, 
and arrested Mr. R. I have only to add that I recovered the amount of my debt, as prom- 
ised by the spirit, and my expenses in following the thief. 

" Yours, fraternally, 

" Toronto, C. W." " R. V. Wilson. 

The following account was sent to the Spiritual Telegraph by Mrs. T. E 
Cowee, a lady of the most unimpeachable veracity, resident at Atwater 
Portage County, Ohio. 

The lady is a Spiritualist was a constant correspondent of the Telegraphy 
and was well acquainted with all the parties concerned. Although the names 
and addresses were confided in full to the author, she was desired to give the 
initials only, in consideration of the high respectability of tlie family, whose 
relatives the narrative places in so discreditable a light. 

"LOST PAPERS DISCOVERED BY A SPIRIT. 

"Mr. H., whose widow now resides at Chicago, died suddenly, after a few hours' illness 
only, leaving his widow stunned and overwhelmed by her unexpected affliction. After the 
funeral Mrs. H. spent a few days with her brother, and, having no children of her own, 
persuaded her niece. Miss C, to return with her to her now desolate home. Soon after 
her great bereavement, another unlooked-for trial awaited the widow. She knew that Mr. 
H. had so disposed of his property that it would be left entirely to her. Yet he had scarcely 
been laid in the groimd ere his brothers claimed, upon one pretext or other, the whole of his 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 525 

estates, and announced their intention of dispossessing her of the very house which herself 
and her beloved husband had labored together to obtain. 

" Her legal advisers could render her no assistance in this strait, without she could pro 
duce certain documents which she knew Mr. H. possessed, but which all her anxious re- 
searches failed to discover. Subsequent disclosures rendered it certain that, whilst the stricken 
wife was bathing the corpse of her husband with her tears, his brothers had examined every 
drawer, and ransacked the house, in the hope to discover and possess themselves of those 
very deeds, but, faihng to find them, they concluded that they had either not been made 
out, or else were destroyed. 

" Hence they instituted their claim with perfect impunity. Mrs. H. had shared her 
husband' s labors in the acquisition of their property. The estate on which she then dwelt 
had been earned, cultivated, and adorned by their mutual toil, and she could not endure 
the thought of yieldmg up a spot endeared to her by precious memories, and in justice so 
fuUy her own property. 'Whilst these distracting thoughts filled her mind, she one night 
retu'ed to rest, her niece sharing her couch. The latter was soon asleep, but sorrow and 
anxiety Icept Mrs. H. awake, until, as she lay with her eyes closed, endeavoring to compel 
the forgetfulness which would not come, she heard a peculiar rustling, as of some one ap- 
proaching. The room was large, and but dimly lighted by an expiring fire, whilst the 
closed blinds prevented the ingi-ess of light from the street. Yet the room seemed fiUed 
with a pale, silvery radiance, which distinctly revealed every object in it, and showed her, 
standing close by her side, her husband, precisely as he had appeared m hfe, only that he 
regarded her with an expression of tenderness. 

" Involuntarily Mrs. H. started and pronounced his name, when the apparition, speaiiing 
in an audible voice, implored her to calm herself and listen to him, as he had much to say. 

" He then informed her that two or three days before his death, and whilst she was 
absent on a visit, he was seized with a strong impression that his papers were not safe in 
his desk ; that he had accordingly made a recess behind the set of drawers in the north 
room, and there deposited several papers of value, amongst others the missing deeds. 
Being struck with death so suddenly and so soon after her return, lie had not had time to 
inform her of this, and could not rest until it had been communicated. He informed her 
minutely how to find the recess and extract the papers, and then gradually melted away in 
the silvery light which still continued to illuminate the room some time after the spirit had 
disappeared. Mrs. H. with some difiicillty succeeded in arousing her niece, asking if she 
had not seen or heard anything. Miss C. replied that she had heard voices talking ; she 
also expressed surprise to find the room so light. Mrs. H., feeling herself too weak and 
agitated to rise, asked Miss C. if she would get up and strike a hght, and then if she would 
be afraid to go alone to the north room, open the third drawer of the set there, where she 
would find a place which seemed to be spliced in with the wall, pry out with a Ivnife the 
board at the back, and bring the papers she would fuid in the recess to her. Miss C. , who 
related the narrative to Mrs. Cowee, says : ' I was not afraid to go, but I did wonder 
why aunt had selected such an hour for an errand of that kind, and why she sent me to a 
place which I had not visited before. I went, however, took out the third drawer, after a 
close scrutmy found what seemed to be the splicing board let into the wall, removed it with 
some difficulty, and found several papers. These I took, and placed them in aunt's tremb- 
ling hands, who, after a brief examination, said : "These are the missing deeds." ' " 

The Springfield Repuhlican, of 1856, one of the most authoritative and re- 
liable secular journals in America, has the following item, for the strict au- 
thenticity of which the editor vouches : 

"SPIRITS AT A GAJNIING TABLE. 

" As a company of our fast young men were bus}' over the card-table at M.'s, last Fri- 
day evening, a singular noise attracted their attention. It was of so miusual a nature that 



526 HISTORY OF MODERN" 

tliey began to look about for its cause. It was repeated again and again in other direc- 
tions. Something more tlian curiosity was now excited, and playing was suspended. 

" Immediately one of the company fell into what the Spiritualists call a 'trance,' and 
proceeded to utter, as if from the spirit of his father, a homily against gambling and its as- 
sociate vices. 

"This was followed by a most touching address, purporting to come from a deceased sister 
of one of the company, couched in such a tender and affecting tone, that the whole com- 
pany were irresistibly moved to tears. There was no more card-playing that night. None 
present were believers in spiritual manifestations, and the scene was equally strange and 
novel to them all ; nevertheless, its effect was irresistible and most salutary. The circum- 
stances were narrated at several religious meetings on the succeeding Sunday, and we have 
reason to Icnow occurred substantially as we here repeat it." 

RESCUE, BY SPIRIT IMPRESSION, OF A MAN BURIED ALIVE. 

In the year i860, Mr. Anson, a highly respected inhabitant of Prairie, 
Boone County, lUinois, was engaged in repairing a well, when a mass of 
superincumbent stone and rubbish under which he was incautiously working, 
fell upon him, covering him to the depth of eighteen or twenty feet, and, as 
the neighbors who witnessed the accident supposed, crushing him to death. 

The catastrophe occurred at six o'clock in the evening. The neighbors 
immediately set to work to dig out the remains of the unfortunate man, but 
up to twelve o'clock at night, they had not succeeded in reaching him ; and 
beginning to suspect that the falling mass must have precipitated the body 
into the well, and completely choked it up, they concluded that as they were 
all quite worn out by their unceasing labors, which they now felt would be 
unavailing, they would suspend them until the following morning. At this 
crisis, the poor wife of Mr. Anson broke into their midst, and implored them, 
as they would hope for mercy in their own hour of calamity and death, to con- 
tinite their efforts. She insisted that the spirit of a near relative had appeared 
to her, and declared that Mr. Anson was still alive, and protected by the fall 
of a sloping mass of stone which formed a cavity above his head, and that if 
he could be disinterred before a certain hour, his life would be preserved, and 
himself remain almost uninjured. In this statement Mrs. Anson was con- 
firmed by a female neighbor, who insisted that the selfsame spirit had ap- 
peared to her and duplicated the manifestation. Incredulous as they were, 
the kind-hearted workmen could not resist the frantic appeals of the earnest 
women, and on continuing their excavations for another hour they reached 
the body of Mr. Anson, whom they found stunned and insensible, but still 
alive, protected as his wife had described. Under the tender ministrations 
of his friends he became completely restored to health and strength in a few 
hours. For the truth of this statement we have the evidence of Mr. and Mrs. 
Anson themselves, together with some of the assistants -who aided in the 
former's rescue. 

"NAUTICAL SPIRITS. 

"New York, December Z, 1858. 
" To the Editor of the Spiritual Telegraph : 

" Brother Partridge, — During my last voyage from Galveston to this city in the 
brig South, which left Galveston bar on the 28th of October, when six days out, I was 
sitting in the afternoon near the cabin table, on which a map of the Gulf of Mexico was 
spread out. Captain Thomas Williams had taken his altitude and was ciphering out his 
reclconins:. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 527 

*' After lie had completed liis task, lie marked five small points with his compasses, in- 
dicating the position of the ship. I am not a practical navigator ; had not seen any of hi? 
reckonings, nor had I any reason to doubt the correctness of his calculations. I only no- 
ticed that he seemed scrupulously particular about them. On this occasion I had a quill 
toothpick in my hand, and by a spiritual impulse I could not control, I pointed it to a spot 
on the map different from the five points indicated by the captain. I became involuntarily 
interested ; and taking a small piece of paper, the following was traced under spirit influence 
by my hand : ' Your calculation is not correct ; you are lat. 26° \' ; long. 86° 47'.' This 
corresponded exactly with the captain's reckoning as to latitude, but differed considerably 
in longitude. 

" I called Captain Williams, who had gone upon deck, and, without giving him any rea- 
son, told him I believed his reckoning was not correct. He jestingly replied, ' WeU, 
Doctor, my instruments do not lie ; the horizon is clear, and I wish I were as sure of a 
fortune as I am of the correctness of the position of the ship.' 

"I asked him if his chronometer was correct. He drew out the proof corrections; 
one from Liverpool, one from New York, and added, ' You can see for yourself.' I told 
him I was not an adept in nautical reckonings, and requested him to cipher out the exact 
time, which he immediately commenced to do, when lo ! an error in figures was instantly 
apparent. 

"He called the first mate and said, ' Mr. C, when you made this calculation of the time, 
you put down ii; I find 13. He gave me the reckoning; I multiplied and divided the 
same, and found 13 the result. On making an additional sight correction and determin- 
ing the true result, the captain found an error in his first calculations, which when adjusted 
brought the ship seventeen miles eastward in longitude, and to the precise point which had 
been indicated by my hand on the chart and the figures written by the spirits. 

" You can call on the captam, who is now in port, for the evidence of the truth of what 
I here relate. To me, however, such manifestations are no novelty, having experienced 
hundreds, nay thousands, of communications that to my mind are miquestionably of spirit- 
ual origin. 

" Anthony M. Dignowitz, M. D. 

"San Antonio, Texas." 

Although the difiference of seventeen miles in a nautical calculation was 
not in this case a matter of any moment, seeing that the error was detected 
as soon as made, every experienced navigator is aware that such a mistake 
was liable to cost the crew their lives, and the owners their ship. The follow- 
ing incident is too kindred with the last narrative to be omitted in this con- 
nection. It is copied from the P'on du Lac Comjnojiwealth of the 19th inst., 
and all the persons signing the document are well-known and reliable 
persons : 

"SPIRITS GUIDING THE SHIP. 

" Stockbridge, Wis., y«/;/ 26, 1857. 
" We, the undersigned, left Oshkosh in a small boat for Stockbridge, at twenty minutes 
past four on Friday afternoon, July ig. A gentle wind was blowing from the south-west at 
the time, but at about nine o'clock in the evening, and when nearly half way across the 
lake, a black cloud overspread the heavens, making it intensely dark. At the same time a 
terrific gale of wind blew up from the south-east, threatening us with immediate destruction, 
and rapidly drifting us to the north-west. The sails were immediately furled, but the boat 
became unmanageable. We knew not what to do. It was so dark that we could not see 
each other except by an occasional flash of lightning, which only served to reveal our inevit- 
able doom. Suddenly, and while we were expecting every moment to go to the bottom, a 
brilliant ball of liglit, from four to six inches in diameter, appeared on the mast-head, and 



528 HISTORY OF MODERN 

simultaneously several small lights appeared on the pole in the hands of one' of the party 
who was using it to steer the boat, which we could not guide with the rudder ; also, on each 
shoulder of this person appeared one of these small glittering lights. He at the same time 
cried out, ' Never fear ! our guardian spirits are with us ! ' Then the light at the mast- 
head moved towards the eastern shore. We steered in its wake ; and though we had noth- 
ing to propel us, for we had no oars on board, the boat moved rapidly along despite ol 
winds and waves. At half-past eleven we landed safely, having run into a little harbor 
nearly in a south-easterly direction from the place where the gale first struck us, since which 
we had proceeded for at least eight miles, propelled by an invisible power in the midst of 
that raging tempest, in two hours and thirty minutes. 

[Signed] "Joseph W. Schooley. Wm. C. Cook. 

John Denslow^. Miss E. A. Cook. 

Mrs. Ira Schooley. Amelie Schooley." 

Perhaps tl\e age presents us with no more remarkable or interesting proof 
of spirit-power and its utihty, than the biographical sketch Avhich Avill be found 
in our forthcoming volume, of Mr. Abraham James, of Chicago. 

His singular experiences and wonderful phenomenal endowments require 
a more extended notice than we can here furnish, and we only call attention 
to them in this place to illustrate more forcibly the nature of the subject we 
are treating of, and point to the vast fields of use, science, and even material 
wealth, which open up to the eye of the spiritually entranced seer. 

Mr. James is a young man whose dignified deportment and interesting ap- 
pearance, would command for his statements respect and credence, but be- 
sides the personal interest which attaches to him, his extraordinary history 
proves itself, and establishes conclusively the boundless superiority of spirit- 
ual over mere physical sight. Mr. James, after a singular and striking career, 
chiefly limited to the circle of his own family, became widely known and ad- 
mired as a spirit artist, and finally celebrated, as the discoverer through clair- 
voyance of a fine artesian well, the supply from which will confer a lasting 
benefit upon the inhabitants of Chicago and its vicinity. 

Previous to the discovery of this well, Mr. James's extraordinary raedium- 
istic powers had attracted considerable curiosity and interest. Deprived of 
the advantages of a liberal education, and compelled by stern necessity to de- 
vote his energies to hard material labors totally unsuited to his fragile con- 
stitution and sensitive temperament, no expectation of intellectual culture 
could be formed of him; yet, under the afflatus of spirit influence, he con- 
versed fluently in several oriental and other foreign languages, and gave sci- 
entific discourses which challenged the admiration and astonishment of the 
most learned. 

A distinguished professor [one of the Western state geologists] declared, 
after hearing Mr. James's trance discourses, that he had met an uneducated 
young man who knew more of geology than he did himself. 

For many months Mr. James was influenced to execute vast and elaborate 
geological designs, which were pronounced by those skilled in the science, as 
marvellous and strictly correct representations of the earth's crust, especially 
in the sections of country near Chicago, the vicinity of the medium's resi- 
dence. Extraordinary as were these productions when their source is con- 
sidered, their mode of execution was still more remarkable. Mr. James 
would draw his designs in the most profound magnetic sleep ; occasionally 
with his eyes bandaged, and not unfrequently working with from two to six- 
pencils in each hand, commencing the draAving on various parts of the paper, 
and afterwards filling up the details with marvellous skill and precision. In 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 529 

the autumn of 1863, Mr. James uttered involuntary prophecies of certain dis- 
coveries that were to be made productive of incalculable benefit to the citi- 
zens of Chicago. At that time he did not seem to realize that he himself 
was destined to fulfil his own prophetic monitions. Such was the case, how- 
ever. 

Within a few weeks after these occult utterances, the inspired seer accom- 
plished the realization of all he had promised, by pointing out the locality 
where the purest of water, oil, petroleum, and other mineral treasures lay 
hidden ; and it was under his immediate direction and through his spiritual 
guidance, that the boring for the wells was commenced, and carried through 
with triumphant success. 

Rumor affirms that the faithful and deserving revelator of this magnificent 
discovery, derived little or no benefit from it himself and was actually per- 
mitted to languish in cruel necessity and ill health, while others enjoyed the 
fruits of his achievement. But if this be true, the power which inspired him 
was adequate both to sustain and compensate him ; for after having vainly 
tried to obtain a just share in his own brilliant discovery, he turned his foot- 
steps still under spirit direction from Illinois to the oil regions of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Here a temporary stagnation had fallen upon the community engaged in 
these singular explorations. A reaction from the excessive enthusiasm of 
first discovery had set in, and there was but little passing to attract the 
speculator, or satisfy the demands of the enterprising. But to the piercing 
eyes of spirits, the rich earth, teeming with unwrought treasures, can evidently 
under some conditions to mortals unknown, ( save that they involve the use of 
certain mediumistic organizations,) be read off with as much ease as the navi- 
gator masters the shoals and soundings of the pathless seas. The same bright 
eyes that had pierced the mystery of the earth's crust in Illinois, explored the 
cavernous depths of Pennsylvania. Their purposes were disclosed in streams 
of prophetic eloquence poured through the lips of their entranced medium, 
and after, in this way, they had sufficiently demonstrated the source from 
whence the discovery was to emanate, Mr. James was again inspired to point 
to theTocations where earth's rich treasures lay concealed, and thus were dis- 
covered numerous and abundant wells of oil. Mr. James is now justly a 
participator in the results which his own wonderful endowments have secured. 
Plis discoveries, moreover, have served as a motive power to stimulate the 
community to fresh research, energetic labors, and a general revival of the in- 
dustry and interest of that whole section of country. 

And now for the cui bo7io of these astounding spiritual powers. Independ- 
ent of all personal interest accruing to himself, Mr. James, the spirit medium, 
has been the means of revealing the valuable and long hidden products of the 
earth, and causing their distribution to the comfort and blessing of countless 
thousands. Influences descending from this generation to unborn millions, 
must follow in the wake of such revealments. 

Employment and remunerative labor has been secured to hundreds of ne- 
cessitous operatives engaged in the development of the works. Fresh chan- 
nels of wealth are opened to many individuals, either for their bane or blessing, 
as they may use or abuse it. And lastly, one of the gi-andest attributes of 
the human spirit, namely, the open vision which penetrates all obstacles of 
time and space, matter and mind, has been demonstrated, proved, and certified 
beyond the possibility of denial or the shadow of disproof It is an act of 
equal justice and satisfaction to the author to be able to add that Mr. James, 
the subject of these rare phenomenal endowments, is, in every way, worthy 
34 



530 HISTORY OF MODERN 

of them, and seems disposed to use his marvellous power for the good of 
others and the benefit of humanity, no less than in advancement of the sub- 
lime truths of which he is the witness. With modest humility, he has attrib- 
uted all the glory to the spiritual source from which it has emanated. 

Dignified and self-centred as we knew him in his adversity, report speaks 
of him as kind, beneficent, and humble, in his prosperity. The heavenly be- 
ings who have thus far led and guided liim, alone, can foresee how the new 
trial of the ten talents may work on a character hitherto beautiful and untar- 
nished. But here we must pause, leaving the result to Him who holds us all 
in the hollow of his mighty hand. 

Although we are at this present writing in possession of thousands of well- 
attested cases, illustrative of the beneficent and providential influence which 
spirits exercise upon the destiny of mortals, our limits forbid the insertion of 
any more than the two following representative incidents. 

In connection with the pubhcation of the Boston New England Spiritualist, 
a reading-room was opened with a dedicatory service, on which occasion 
several speakers addressed the company assembled in exposition of the truths 
and uses of Spiritualism. 

In the course of the evening's exercises, Mr. H. G. Cole, a resident of 
Portland, Maine, and now a distinguished lecturer in the temperance cause, 
related the following remarkable spiritual experience. 

Mr. Cole acknowledged that he had formerly been a persistent vender of 
ardent spirits, and that in violation of the Maine Liquor Law. For this 
offence he was indicted on several charges, and thrown into prison. While 
there his sister died, and he was bailed out for the purpose of attending her 
funeral. 

After this sad ceremony was ended, he felt iiresistibly impelled to enter his 
bar-room and there to stand as if arrested and held fast by invisible hands. 
In this position, he distinctly heard a strange, distant, yet clear voice, which 
pleaded with him in the most touching manner on his ruinous and iniquitous 
business. When the spell was over, notwithstanding the deep impression it 
had left on his mind, his fear lest he was yielding to some of the so-called 
" spiritual superstitions of the daj?-," determined him to resist the invisible 
monition, and in order to defy or treat it as an idle dream, he drank until he 
succeeded in deadening his faculties with brutal intoxication ; but from the 
moment when he entered into this course until he sank into insensibility, and 
from the time when consciousness returned until he was compelled to resume 
the business of the succeeding day, the voice never left him, and never ceased 
to plead with him in tones that persistently rang in his ears as those of his dead 
sister. 

At last, unable any longer to endure or resist these mysterious monitions, 
he sought out an acquaintance with whom he had once been intimate, and 
whose chief recommendation, on the present occasion, was the fact that he 
had been a professed infidel. 

To this person the unhappy inebriate related candidly the story of the 
"haunting," and solicited his friend's opinion as to its cause. To his aston- 
ishment, he found that the former infidel had latterly become an ardent 
convert to Spiritualism, and attributed the invisible pleadings to the influence 
of anxious spirit friends. At his counsellor's earnest solicitation, Mr. Cole 
consented to accompany him to a medium, from whom he instantly received 
a communication, signed with the full name of his deceased sister, and con- 
taining numerous indisputable proofs of her identity. Mr. Cole continued 
his investigations, and it v/as under this redeeming influence that he became 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. S3 1 

restored to himself and society in the character of a faithful and effective 
lecturer for the cause of temperance. 

Our concluding example is vouched for on the respected and unquestion- 
able authority of Mr. Thomas Hunt, merchant, and Judge Waters, both of 
Salem, Mass., who are personally cognizant of the parties, and well advised 
of all the facts of the case. 

A young man in the employ of a carriage manufacturer in New York, 
carrying on business on a very extensive scale, was accused by his employer, 
on grounds which he considered to be conclusive, of embezzling the sum of 
seven hundred dollars. 

Unwilling to proceed harshly or in haste against the accused party, who 
had hidierto borne an irreproachable character, the manufacturer wrote to 
the youth's father, Mr. S., informing him of the charge, and requesting his 
immediate presence to investigate the unhappy business. Before leaving his 
place of residence, Mr. S., who was a strong Spiritualist, called on Mr. 
Charles Foster, the celebrated test medium, who chanced to be staying in 
that town. 

Mr. S. carefully concealed the object of his visit, but the medium became 
instantly impressed ^\'ith its nature, and as soon as the sitting commenced, 
the spirit controlling him emphatically assured Mr. S. that "his son was in- 
nocent of a great crime that had been laid to his charge, but that the real 
culprit could not be brought to justice unless he [Mr. Foster] should accom- 
pany Mr. S. to New York." 

So powerful were the demonstrations accompanying this unlooked-for com- 
munication, that Mr. S. was induced to solicit Mr. Foster's compliance with 
the spirit's request. This being granted, the two gentlemen set out for New 
York, and immediately proceeded to the office of the carriage manufacturer. 
As soon as the nature of their business was stated, and permission granted 
to hold a seance then and there, Mr. Foster, who was a total stranger to all 
the parties concerned, described a fellow-clerk in the manufactory, who he 
affirmed to be the guilty party ; and in proof thereof, he desired that a mes- 
senger should be sent to search the young man's desk, in which would be 
found a bunch of keys Avhich he desired should be brought to the seance. 

All this was done : the keys were found exactly where the medium had de- 
scribed, and when placed in his hand, he selected one which he affirmed would 
open the safe from which the money had been abstracted, and by aid of which 
the young man had accomplished his theft. Before making this final and con- 
clusive disclosure, the spirits declared, through Mr. Foster, that the culprit had 
been tempted to this crime by the accidental discovery that he possessed a 
duplicate key of the safe, a knowledge he would never have made use of had 
he not been in a condition of pressing necessity and overwhelming distress. 
Under these circumstances, the spirits insisted upon receiving a promise that 
if all was found as they had represented, the culprit should be reprimanded 
with necessary severity, but that his crime should be forgiven, and a farther 
test of his good conduct be pemiitted, in continued service. Upon these con- 
ditions the revelation was made. The employer, struck with the merciful 
consideration no less than the justice of the spirits, faithfully promised, and 
honorably fulfilled his pledge. 

The circumstances were correctly detailed in the minutest particular. The 
results were the entire justification of the innocent ; the arrest of a well dis- 
posed though erring man in a career of crime which might have ended in 
irretrievable ruin ; and another evidence that our most secret ways are en- 
vironed with " a cloud of witnesses," commissioned in the dispensation of 



'532 HISTORY OF MODERN 

divine law and order to deal out compensation and retribution to the children 
of mortality. 

Several cases applicatable to the subjects treated of will be found in our 
twentieth chapter, but the answer to the senseless question, Cid bono? though 
specially continued in our next chapter, can only be fully rendered by study- 
ing the genius of Spiritualism in all its relations, every one of which bears 
upon the divine principle of supreme good. 



CHAPTER XLVIIT. 

GUI BONO ? CONTINUED. 
" Are they not all ministering spirits ? " 

Spiritual Invention — Machine for Riving Shingles. — A Spirit-invented 
Mill — Net- Weaving — The Window-Shutter Fastener. — The Cloud of 
Witnesses — The Anti-Tobacco Army — The Irrepressible Conflict. 

# 
We must now call attention to another phase of Spiritualism still, as utilita- 
rian in its character as the examples cited in the last chapter, and still respon- 
sive to the question, Ctii bono ? 

We shall notice a few of the instances which demonstrate where our thoughts 
come from, as proved in that phase of the communion with spirits, which 
suggests divers useful and scientific inventions. 

Like the influence for good which Spiritualism exerts upon the character 
and spirits. exercise upon the destiny of mankind, but little is known of an- 
gelic ministry in this form ; but little is understood of the silent influx Avhich 
outworks itself in manifestations of human genius, v/hose sources are unknown 
even to their illuminated subjects. The history of the composer, author, 
poet, painter, mechanic, and inventor, is full of fine, and sometimes bold 
tracery of the " supernatural," in the developement and exercise of their 
powers. From ignorance of the real relations subsisting between the visible 
and the invisible worlds, mankind generally mistake spiritual inspiration 
for the unfoldment of their own talents, but still more frequently they 
" qj.iench the spirit, " of whose divine operation they have a direct conscious- 
ness, under the superincumbent weight of that fear which shrinks from the 
ridicule of the ignorant or the anathema of the bigot ; and thus but a very 
small percentage of the beneficent ministry which the immortals exercise 
upon the minds of mortals becomes known or understood. The following 
are a few representative cases, selected from multitudes of others, illustra- 
tive of the direct and recognized agency of spirits in the production of new 
inventions. 

MACHINE INVENTED BY SPIRITS. —TELEGRAPH PAPERS. 

"Palmer, Hampton County, Mass., April it,, 1854. 
" Messrs. Partridge and Brittan : 

" From a sense of duty, and to give credit to whom credit is due, I offer the following 
testimony concerning the discovery through spirit agency of a machine for riving shingles. 

" On the second of March last, Dr. Barrow was entranced to give the description, and 
also the draft of the machine, under the avowed influence of Dr. Franldin. Tl e draft was 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 533 

completed in an incredibly short space of time, and that without the aid of any mathematical 
instruments. On taking off the draft to a working size, the proportions were all found to 
be correct, and could not be improved upon. The model completed is one third of the 
working size, and woiks precisely as promised. It produces from the block a shingle each 
second of time, includmg the time required to remove the shingle from the machine, and 

the replacing of the bolts upon the carriage 

" I will simply add that Dr. Barrow has no knowledge of the mechanical arts, and in 
the normal state could not have given the least idea of the construction of such a machuie. 
'* I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 

" H. C. Billings." 

"A SPIRIT INVENTED MILL.— TELEGRAPH PAPERS. 

" Harmonsburg, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, ) 

">/j/i3, 1858. f 

" Mr. Partridge, — Permit me to inform you of the invention of a very important and 
novel kind of mill, which was suggested in the following way. The inventor, who is not a 
Spiritualist, saw himself, in a vision, walking in his saw-mUl yard, on what appeared to be 
sawdust, which, as he walked through it, changed to corn meal. Then he beheld a mill 
running, with the meal pouring off after a peculiar fashion. Attentively observing the ma- 
chinery of these operations, his mind became so forcibly impressed with them that he started 
up, and becoming thoroughly aroused, instantly set to work to construct a model on the 
ideas he had seemed to behold in operation. Satisfied with his model, he next proceeded to 
construct a mill, which proved to be admirably adapted for grinding all kinds of grain. On 
March 2, 1S58, the inventor obtained a patent right for his mill, on which the Commissioner 
of Patents remarked that in his judgement it was the most useful mvention he had ever 

granted a patent for 

♦'Yours for progress, 

" T. T. H." 

"NET-WEAVING REVEALED BY SPIRIT POWER.— SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, 1859. 

" If the reader will turn to the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, he will find it stated that 
the Lord was moved with great wi-ath towards the people, inasmuch as" he confounded their 
knowledge, and destroyed their skill in works. They possessed the art of weaving nets for 
catching fish, which art the Lord suddenly and utterly took away from them, so that they re- 
membered it no more. 

" This was considered a great calamity to those people, and in making nets, men have 
ever since been compelled to tie the knots by hand. 

" There is no estimating the amount of time and money that has been expended in en- 
deavoring to recover this lost art. Without searching the pages of history to recall the various 
efforts that have been made to this purpose, suffice it to say that Napoleon Bonaparte, 
dm^ing his reign, expended large sums of money in the attempt to rediscover the lost art of 
net-weaving. He failed, however, and the art has only been found again within the last 
few years, under the following circumstances : 

"Recently, whilst we, the editor of the Telegraph, were lecturing at New Haven, Mr. 
Van Husen, a gentleman about fifty years of age, of a highly intelligent appearance and 
most respectable position in life, made known to us some of his curious experiences, and, 
among other things, stated many years before modern Spiritualism was known, spirits com- 
menced their visits to him. Mr. Van Husen both saw and conversed with his heavenly 
visitants, who claimed to be the spirits of ancient Jewish men who had lived in the days when 
nets were woven by machineiy, and to have been amongst those who worked the machines. 
After a while these spirits directed Mr. Van Husen how to construct a machine on the an- 
cient plan, for net-weavmg. Their instructions were so exact that Mr. H. made, piece by 
piece, submitting each part to his kind teachers, until the whole was completed, when, with 



534 HISTORY OF MODERN 

equal mmutise they directed him how to put th-em all together. When this was done, the ma- 
chine was a complete success, and we saw it in New Haven, weaving nets with wonderful 
speed and facility, tying three hundred and sixty knots in a minute. After the machine was 
perfected, Mr. Van Husen began to consider the propriety of taking out a patent for the in- 
vention, and this brought up the question as to whether he could claim the invention as his 
own, when it was clearly a revelation from spirits. Truthfully to his own experience, he 
could not make oath that the invention was his, nor deny that he received it direct from 
others, and being a sti-ictly conscientious man, he felt in considerable doubt how he should 
proceed. In this dilemma, he applied to a Congi^egational minister of the place, and asked 
him if he considered it lawful or possible for him to have a revelation. 

" The minister answered decidedly in the negative. Mr. Van Husen stated his case, and 
then asked whether he could lawfully and possibly make oath that the invention was his 
ov/n. 

"The preacher hesitated, read over the denunciatory chapter of Isaiah, and said he must 
have further time to decide. A few days after, Mr. Van H., pressing the minister for his 
decision, the latter declined to take the responsibility upon himself of answering so knotty 
a point. He added however, that in a few days there would be a meeting of ministers of 
his denomination and he would lay the matter before them and ask for their united coun- 
sel. But this reverend body were all in the same quandary ; they agreed to defer their 
answer until their next meeting, deeming it necessary to search for sacred and secular auth- 
ority ere they could pronounce any decision that would ' involve perjury, or the dammation 
of a soul.' As this priestly council continued to be undecided on so grave a point, the 
worthy medium, for such he undoubtedly was, took the advice of a neighboring minister, 
Avhose common sense was a little stronger than his priestly nonsense, and who urged Mr. 
Van Husen to make such a representation at the Patent Office as would secure to the only 
mortal who had a right to the invention all the immunities and privileges which belonged 
to it. The machine, we repeat, is a gi-and success, and, conaected with Mr. Van Husen's 
candid acknowledgment of its source, a grand demonstration of spkitual intelligence and 
ministering care for mortals." 

Amongst other publications included in spiritualistic literature, is a pam- 
phlet entitled "The Spiritual Invention." It is part of an autobiography- 
written by Mr. Frank Chase, of Sutton, New Hampshire, and records the 
origin of a self-adjusting, inside fastening window blind, whose simple yet 
ingenious construction was revealed to the author directly from a spirit. As 
Mr. Chase's account of this case is somewhat mixed up with personal details 
and the writer's peculiar idiosyncrasies, we shall substitute in its stead the 
letter addressed by the author to the spiritual journals of the time, written 
to correct the exaggerated reports that were in circulation on the subject, 
and afterwards introduced by Mr. Chase inter his pamphlet by way of preface. 
It reads as follows : 

"Boston, April 5, 1862. 
" To the Editors of the Banner of Light : 

" Gentlemen, — We all acknowledge, with Thomas Paine, that there are 
" some thoughts that bolt into our heads," coming we know not how or 
whence. Inventors, composers, and writers ■wall be especially familiar with 
this experience ; and, to such of your readers as may be willing to accept of 
a spiritual solution for this seeming spontaneity of thought, the following in- 
cidents of my travel may not be uninteresting. 

"Last November, I went to Sutton, N. H., to fulfil an engagement of long 
standing, and give one Sunday to the good people of that place. I found my 
correspondent and employe, Mr. Frank Chase, almost the sole representa- 
tive of Spiritualism in three villages ; and, if time and space would permit me, 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 535 

I could give your readers a liistory of modern martyrdom, endured daring a 
five-years' warfare, conducted single-handed b}^ this brave young man, against 
bigotry, cowardice, and village politics, that should stimulate the despairing 
to hope under the most adverse circumstances, and put to shame the mur- 
murs of the "well-to-do" Spiritualists, who, after enduring a few cold looks, 
and paying out a fev/ dollars to sustain "the cause," withdravv^s, with the self- 
satisfied assurance " that they have made sacrifices enough for Spiritualism, 
and mean to do no more." 

"Not so my brave ally, Mr. Frank Chase, who, Avith scarcely any means, 
and the entire battery of Sutton influence levelled against him, by aid of a 
few Quixotes, whose chief inducemnet to labor is the need of the people, 
rather than self, have managed to keep Spiritualism so unmistakably before 
Sutton eyes, that they know with the heart what they reject with the lips. 
Although none of Mr. Frank Chase's family were Spirituahsts, I was hospi- 
tably entertained in his house. 

" One day, whilst receiving visits from the neighbors, in company with Mr. 
Ghase's mother, I noticed to some of my visitors the presence of different 
spirit friends they had brought with them. As those I was so fortunate as to 
perceive were recognized with many expressions of gladness and surprise by 
their friends, Mrs. Chase remarked, ' She supposed she was not good enough 
to be visited by spirits, as I had never recognized any for her.' In apparent 
answer to her remark, a tall man appeared at her side, who called her ' a 
kind of sister of his.' This, in connection \vith other tokens of identity, as- 
sured her it was a half-brother of hers, and excited much curiosity and inter- 
est in her mind. 

"Some time since, my host, Mr. Frank Chase, had invented a newA\andow 
blind, for which he had obtained a patent. Mr. Chase always claimed that 
the thought of this invention had come into his head in a manner so singu- 
lar, that he was perfectly sure it was a 'spiritual impression.' The spirit 
of the uncle now before me informed me that he [himself an ingenious work- 
man] had been the author of this thought ; but, as the assertion contained in 
it no special proof, it was not received by the compan}'- with much favor. 
Ere he disappeared, the spirit added, 'I will give Frank another proof of my 
care and love for him, and do something greatly to his benefit.' 
. "That night, the moment I extinguished my lamp on going to bed, the tall 
man stood by my side, kindly quieted the fear which the miserable prejudice 
of early education has still left on my nerves, of spirits ; and, after exacting 
from me a promise that what he was about to communicate I would freely 
give to his nephew, he proceeded to show me an invention for closing window- 
blinds, opening, shutting, and most securely fastening them, and all from 
the inside, and without the cold and troublesome process of opening and shut- 
ting the window. 

" The machine was and is exceedingly simple ; can be applied to any -win- 
dow ; is the most secure of fastening, when closed, against burglars ; and 
equally so, when pushed back, against the action of the wind. 

"My shadowy mechanical friend took the pains to show me the instrument 
made in two kinds of metal ; the one plain and inexpensive, the other more 
showy and expensive. With another charge to ^give it to Frank,' together 
with the assurance that he should obtain a patent for it and, more apocry- 
phal yet, be actually loaned the money which was to procure said patent 
without any difficulty, my good instructor went over again the screws, hinges, 
joints, material, etc., and bade me kindly good-night. 

" The next morning, almost at dawn of day, saw me fitting on to a frozen 



536 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

window, and in the midst of a blinding snow-storm, a paper model, of tlie 
spirit's machine. Mr. Frank Chase, a ready and ingenious mechanic liim- 
self, at once understood the idea ; and with the promise of the spirit [which 
he did believe], that, where my description failed, he would inspire him, and 
a further promise [which seemed so wild in Sutton finance that he did not be- 
lieve it], namely, that the means for obtaining his patent should be found, I 
quitted Sutton. 

" About one week after my departure, I received a letter from Mr. Chase, 
announcmg that the machine was made, tried, and pronounced by several 
mechanics of the vicinity perfectly satisfactory and complete in all its details. 
A few weeks later, my correspondent informed me that the money was read- 
ily obtained, and the patent granted ; that the spiritual machine is now in 
successful operation and great demand, and can be had of Mr. Frank Chase, 
Sutton, New Hampshire, etc. 

" As I have the permission of the parties concerned to publish this state- 
ment, and as the various witnesses can and will testify to the above, I think 
I am justified in saying that in me [to whom I presume none of my acquaint- 
ances would look to find germs even of mechanical genius] there is one evi- 
dence, at least, that we need but to see the wheels that move the machine, 
and obtain glimpses of the invisible workmen who are engaged in the ma- 
chinery, to find where those thoughts, fraught with gleams of untried possibil- 
it'es, and rife with gems of useful discovery, come from. 

" Emma Hardinge." 

It seems that either Mr. Chase's mind was not perplexed with the same 
scruples that afflicted Mr. Van Flusen, or his counsels were not distracted by 
such interpreters of God's pleasure as chose to infer that he would condemn 
a human soul to eternal destruction for receiving some useful mechanical sug- 
gestions from a man who had become a glorified spirit. 

Certain it is, that Mr. Chase readily obtained a patent for the invention, 
and that without sacrifice of truth or conscience, as he candidly proclaimed 
to the whole world, both in the publication of his pamphlet and to the officials 
who granted his patent, the source from whence the idea originated. The 
result of Mr. Chase's candor in this respect called forth the following notice 
from the editor of the Scientific American, who, in commenting on the utilita- 
rian character of the invention added : 

"Mr. Frank Chase, of Sutton, N. H., states that the blind-fastener illustrated on 
another page of the number, v/as revealed to him through Emma Hardinge, the spirit me- 
dium, by the ghost of his uncle, a worthy mechanic some time deceased. Acting upon Mrs. 
Hardinge's instructions, Mr. Chase made the fastening, which is certainly a good one, and 
■f done by the spirits, as is alleged, is no discredit to their inventive genius. 

" People often dream of valuable inventions, but they do not always turn out as well as 
this one." 

It will be remembered that the spirit who revealed this invention to the 
author, urged upon her that she should give the idea to his nephew ; and here 
it may be added that he insisted upon it, she should never take any fee or 
reward for the same, or claim any share of the profits. In justice to all pardes, 
it is but right to say, that Mr. Chase has again and again pressed upon Mrs. 
Hardinge liberal ofters of compensation, accruing from the sale of the patent 
rights, etc. ; but the conditions imposed by the spirit have been faithfiilly re- 
garded, and not a single cent has ever been accepted by the medium, or any 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 537 

Other reward than a Avell-executed model of the invention, with which Mr. 
Chase kindly presented her as a memento, on her quitting America 

Several- highly ingenious and valuable pieces of machinery for quartz-crush- 
ing, and amalgamating, have been given to the early miners of California and 
Nevada, through spirit mediums. One of the most successful furnaces now 
in operation in those States was thus revealed ; but as the parties, either 
through carelessness or lack of opportunity, failed to secure patents for them, 
and they have been extensively imitated, we are not at liberty to cite the 
names of the mediums or the conditions of their invention in this connection. 
Avery beautiful crystalline composition whose bases were rose-leaves and 
oxide of iron, was revealed by spirits to Mr. John Birdsall, an excellent me- 
dium and practical miner of California, and by him converted into recherche 
ornaments for his friends. 

To enumerate the valuable medicinal compounds that have been revealed 
by spirits to their mediums for curative purposes, would require the space ol 
a separate volume. The sister muses of Poetr}^, Painting, and Music, also, 
have been fully represented by kind spirit friends, whose magnificent inspira- 
tions will be treated of more fully hereafter. 

Besides the few instances already mentioned, an immense number of me- 
chanical inventions are claimed to have emanated from spirits during the 
progress of this modern spiritual movement ; our space, however, forbids the 
insertion of more particular details. Narrowing down our observation to the 
Spiritualism of the time and place only which these pages claim to repre- 
sent, let any intelligent reader review the circle of each one's own acquaint- 
ance, and in nine cases out of every ten he will find that excellence in art, 
science, invention, or the exliibition of rare genius in any shape, is always 
accompanied by some direct or indirect evidence of occult aid and inspiration. 

Did opportunity permit, we could fill volumes with evidences of this nature; 
in fact, the private and personal history of every Spiritualist in America 
furnishes us with examples of occult guidance and inspiration. 

The poor seamstress finds herself following out unspoken monitions to 
execute her weary task after some improved fashion. The embroideress is 
moved to represent new and dainty patterns which are a novelty and sur- 
prise to herself The humble housewife is perpetually impelled to improve 
her plans of operation, whether in the kitchen, chamber, laundry, or saloon, 
and that without being able to define to herself, unless she be a consciously 
developed medium, from whence the idea of improvement emanates. Gar- 
dens exhibit, to the initiated, the spiritual fancy of an unseen instructor, and 
numberless secrets in agriculture, chemistry, and mechanics, are whispered 
in the half-entranced ears of a medium, though the echoes of the gentle 
spirit voices are too generally merged in and mistaken for the clamorous 
tones of materialism. 

The triviality and commonplace character of many of these experiences 
robs them of their prestige in the eyes of the marvel seeker, and renders their 
minute record uninteresting; nevertheless their existence is demonstrative 
of an unbroken chain of connection and intercourse between the visible and 
invisible worlds, whose links are composed of heart-love and mental sympa- 
thy, forged by spiritual intelligence and human necessity. 

We now propose to take a brief glance at some of the movements con- 
nected with, and growing out of Spiritualism, whose progressive and benevo- 
lent purposes are strongly characteristic of the tendencies which spiritual 
teachings develop. Of these, none have presented a pleasanter view of the 
results of spiritual influence upon long confirmed and almost national habits. 



538 HISTORY 07 MODERN" 

than, the " anti-tobacco" army," a httle association which has grown up 
amongst the members of the spiritual lyceum at Sturgis, Michigan. 

In an age when the corporeal systems of four-fifths of our male population 
are saturated witia the narcotic fumes of tobacco, and the remaining fifth is 
compelled to inhale some portion of the poison in the tainted atmosphere of 
smoky streets ; when the brain, muscle, and nerve of each succeeding gener- 
ation is unmistakably degenerating beneath the influence of this fatal habit, we 
can. conceive of no more philanthropic or praiseworthy mission than that ac- 
complished by Frank Wadsworth, one of the most eloquent and indefatigable 
of the spiritual speakers, in founding the little " anti-tobacco army " of Stur- 
gis, Michigan. The Religio-Philosophical Jouinial oi 1866, gives the follow- 
ing account of the administration of the anti-tobacco pledge : 

"STURGIS LYCEUM. — ANTI-TOBACCO ARMY. 

"Dear Journal, — On the 28th ult., the Sturgis Lyceum rallied in a body to the anti- 
tobacco standard. 

" Seventy men, women, and children, deliberately pledged themselves to abstain from 
the use of tobacco in all its forms, totally and forevei". 

"It was Brother Wadsworth' s last day with us for the present, and Ire had prepared the 
pledge, beautifully framed and trimmed, with a scroll for signatures appended, as a present to 
the lyceum. In a few appropriate remarks he' explained its uses and purposes, expressing 
the desire that the Lyceum might become an example in the world by invariably and steadily 
opposing what was wrong. As tobacco was a great and increasing evU, both to the present 
and future generations, he wished the members of that lyceum, old and young, to pledge 
themselves against its use. 

" The Lyceum accepted the proffered gift, and voted Brother Wadsworth a hearty 
' thank you ; ' after which they marched in groups and signed the pledge. Invitations v>-ere 
then given to the spectators to join the little army, and ten persons volunteered imme- 
diately. The scene was impressive and worthy of a far better description than I am able to 
give. Six men, who had used tobacco for upwards of forty years, pledged themselves that 
day to abandon its use forever. When those veteran chewers put their names to the 
pledge, the emotion of those present foukd expression in a cheer so hearty as to make the 
Free Church ring again 

" What lyceum comes next, carrying the anti-tobacco banner? Wherever our philosophy 
finds a hearing, wherever the lyceum banner is unfurled, there let us declare uncompromis- 
ing war against rum, profanity, tobacco, and anger ; let the souls that would be strong, 
pure, and fully developed in the bright hereafter, no longer be compelled to breathe polluted 
air, listen to the brutal tones of intoxication or profanity, or experience the violence of 
untempered human passion. 

" AU goes well with us here. The work goes on bravely. 

"Fraternally yours, 

"Le Tailleur. 

" Sturgis, Mich., Februajy, 1866." 

Amongst the many useful and progressive ideas with which Mr. A. J. 
Davis has blessed the age, none has assumed a more practical and valuable 
form than the institution of a " Moral Police Fraternity," which Mr. Davis 
arranged in connection with his Sabbath meetings, the Children's Progressive 
Lyceum, and other embryotic movements, whilst engaged in the publication 
of the He^-ald of Progress in New York. The main idea upon which the 
Moral Police Fraternity seems to have been founded, was that of requiiing 
each member of the association, as a duty incumbent upon the soul, to do 
something, in some shape or form, by way of assisting suffering, relieving dia- 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 539 

tress, comforting affliction, protesting against crime, and instructing igno- 
rance. The members of the association were required to make periodical 
reports of their work, and received comasel and advice in its prosecution 
from the founder, or experienced members of the fraternity. 

The following extracts will afford the reader some idea of the founder's 
aims and inspiration in the first organization of the society. The report is 
taken from Mr. Davis's paper, the Herald of Progress, wliich gives an ac- 
comit of 

"THE NINTH MONTHLY MEETING OF THE MORAL POLICE FRATERNITY — NEW 
YORK, DODWORTH'S HALL, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 6, 1S64. 

" The meeting was opened with singing by the Lyceum choir Mr. Davis 

then said : 

" ' Having made a brief report of transactions during the past month, I would lilce to 
bring before you the question of meetings in tliis place. To me, these Sunday gatherings, 
to listen to useful sphitual lectures, are peculiarly a moral police work. 

" ' It seemed to me, at one time, that we could not need anything more tlian these morn- 
ing and evening meetings. But a time came when the pressure from the better spheres 
was too powerful to be resisted ; the inspiration was too glorious and fertile to be hushed 
into silence ; hence the Children's Lyceum movement came up, and has already blossomed 
and hei-e ' [pointmg to the choir of cluldren] ' are some of its beautiful flowers before 
you 

"* The moral police movement came up, as you laiow, on the 14th of Jime last. It 
could not be repressed. It came just as naturally as foliage comes on trees in the spring ; 
because the time had arrived in the progixss of these meetings, — the putting-forth time of 
these beautiful evidences of the great truths we believe and teach. 

" * Our meetings might go on until doomsday, but unless we had some practical result 
from them, they would be like a tree mth only foliage, but no fruit. Our Children' s Ly- 
ceum and the Moral Police Fraternity are the fruit on the tree of life, which we see growing 
here from week to week' " 

A number of reports ^vere read at this meeting, detailing the labors of the 
society during the preceding month. They included the offices of healing, 
alms-giving, rendering advice, consolation, protection, and a variety of other 
valuable ministrations, emulative of the angehc labors of love effected for 
mortals by tender and loving spirit friends. The operations of this truly ex- 
cellent society ceased, unfortunately, when Mr. Davis's connection with New 
York Spiritualism became suspended. 

Amongst a vast number of ephemeral, though truly benevolent enterprises 
undertaken by the Spiritualists, the follo\\Tng, which was established in Kew 
York, may be taken as a specimen of many more existing in other parts of 
the country: 

" SPIRITUALISTS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION. — SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, 1858. 

" We are happy to state that the Spiritualists' Relief Association that was formed in this 
city some weeks ago, is in successful operation, and doing much good. Its objects are to 
visit, comfort, and relieve the sick, and to administer to the relief of the worthy destitute, 
especially amongst Spiritualists, assisting those who have nothing to do to obtain remunera- 
tive, employment, etc." 

And yet, despite these and similar attempts all over the country on the part 
of Spiritualists, as such, to take their place amongst their fellow-men as heal- 
ers, teachers, and missionaries for good, the determined spii'it of repulsion 



540 HISTORY OF MODERlSr 

which has perpetually met their advances, has driven them back into inevit- 
able and disruptive isolation. 

And then the cry is raised that Spiritualists are "totally unpractical ;" 
"mere idle theorists," and that their lives and doctrines are wholly unproduc- 
tive of good to themselves, or the world at large. 

It is constantly asked, " Wliat hospitals have they built ; what almshouses 
have they endowed ; what new thing have they discovered, what good thing 
have they done ? " 

To these demands we answer, "What if they have failed to do any of those 
things ? " The very genius of the movement up to this date has forbidden such 
undertakings in any associative form. 

Individually, the Spiritualists are in most instances practical, benevolent, 
and earnest to carry out in their lives the pure doctrine and suggestive ideas 
of science inculcated by Spiritualism ; but collectively the most insuperable 
obstacles have hitherto thwarted, all their attempts at organization. 

As healers, their methods of cure apply chiefly to individual cases, and de- 
pend on the personal control which wise spirits can exercise over their medi- 
ums, conditional upon time, place, and circumstances. 

To found hospitals upon principles in which the Spiritualists could agree, 
or whereby the mediums could operate in concert, would require a far more 
definite understanding of magnetic laws and treatment than twenty years of 
hap-hazard experiment has afforded us, whilst the practice of any system 
which does not include the use of magnetism and clairoyance would be en- 
tirely opposed to the revelations of spiritual science. 

As a science, Spiritualism has not gone far enough to be reduced to a sys- 
tem, but it has gone too far to accept of the dogmatic and conservative 
methods of stereotyped material science only, whether in medicine, theology, 
mind, or matter. 

To build almshouses implies a provision for decay and infirmity which 
x;annot be expected to attach to a belief of at most a score of years old. To 
make provision in fact, for any special states of human need or suffering, im- 
plies the existence of concrete organizations bound together by fixed opin- 
ions or rallying around a creed. The brief and agitated career of modern 
Spirituahsm constitutes, in one sense, a crusade against the pernicious effects 
of fixed opinions and the dwarfish- tendencies of creed and dogmas, hence 
the first elements of success in authoritarian organizations are lacking, and 
possibly may so contmue, in the essential faith of the Spiritualist. To do 
good in any and every direction with all his heart, is a part of a true Spiritu- 
, alist's belief, for his soul's sake, no less than for humanity ; but to do good 

I because he is bound to comply with a certain authoritarian command, or for 

* fear of the scare-crow torments of theology, is precisely the kind of charity 

which Spiritualism has come to break up, and as yet, we deem Spiritualists are 
scarcely ready again to bend their necks to any such yokes, even if necessitous 
human beings may be benefited thereby. 

Above and independent of all this, let it be remembered that the main in- 
fluence which Spiritualism primarily exerts is on individual character. If 
this great movement should succeed in preparing the atom for a worthy and 
final aggregation into the mass of humanity, it will be found to have effected 
a far more valuable and efficient reform than any which attempts to deal widi 
mankind by wholesale, and converts masses, whose atoms contain the seeds 
of corruption and decay. And the last argument which we need now cite 
by wa}^ of explanation concerning the disintegrated condition of the spiritual 
ranks, is to be found in the conduct of the objectors themselves, who, after 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 54J 

having harassed the Spiritualists out of all the ordinary privileges and places 
which, as members of the body politic of humanity, they are entitled to, they 
then reproach them because they are not there. For instance, after many 
long ahd bitter conflicts, the Spiritualists have succeeded in forcing from dif- 
ferent State governments a recognition of their right to be regarded as re- 
ligious societies, provided they so register themselves under certain laws. 
Even Mr. Frank Chase's pamphlet, " The Spiritual Invention," alluded to in 
the early part of this chapter, became, upon his earnest representation, ex- 
empt from the tax demanded on the sale of secular works because of its "re- 
ligious character," i. e., the record of an invention given by spirits, was ad- 
mitted into the category of "religious works." With this concession be- 
fore him, however, we still beg the reader to abate his enthusiasm at the 
march of public opinion, by recollecting the blank denial which Air. Partridge 
received from the book committee on the occasion of the Sanitar}^ Fair held 
in New York, only four years since, when he tendered a donation of six hun- 
dred dollars' worth of books and matches, because the former contained 
amongst them some spiritual literature, and this was deemed, by the highly 
orthodox committee, too irreligious a subject to be converted into aid for the 
country's wounded and deeply necessitous defenders ! Again, whilst the 
laws of New York compel the recognition of the " First Spiritualist Associa- 
tion" of that city as a "religious body," one of the daily journals of New 
York, only a year ago, sent their reporter to write a critique on the Spiritual- 
ists' Sabbath exercises, in which the fair, eloquent, and honorable speakers 
are characterized as the " wild animals of a menagerie," their personal ap- 
pearance described with a disgusting tone of ribaldry that would foul these 
pages to reprint ; their attitudes and manners mocked and scoffed at, and 
likened to " the hootings of wild beasts," and their committees satirized as 
the " keepers of insane asylums," or " menageries." 

About the very time when ]\Ir. Frank Chase had license to peddle his pam- 
phlet as " a religious work," the Eddys, Laura Ellis, and other prominent 
physical mediums were compelled to pay fines, or endure imprisonment, like 
the Davenport Brothers, for exhibiting their manifestations without taking out 
a license to act as "jugglers and conjurers." After years of strife and effort, 
to be permitted to perform their own sacraments and obtain their legal recog- 
nition, the chartered associations of several States issued certificates to some 
of their speakers, of which the following is a specimen : 

"MRS. S. E. WARNER — MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE. 
" The First Spiritualist Society of Beloit, Wisconsin, has granted our sister worker, Mrs. 
S. E. Warner, a letter of fellowship ; thus duly authorizinrj her to solemnize marriage in 
accordance with law. The certificate confers upon her the right to officiate on marriage 
occasions, secures her half- fare railroad tickets, etc. , privileges in common with the clerg}'. 
We earnestly hope she will exercise these rights, as well as continue the use of her spiritual 
gifts for the redemption of humanity." 

The same week in which the Banner of Light published this article, it con- 
tained the account of a furious sermon which had just been preached b}' a 
celebrated "divine" of Boston, in v/hich he distinctly stated that "all the 
Spiritualists were ' professed Freelovites,' and every man and woman amongst 
them living in open adultery; " whilst the same week [less than two years ago] 
saw the issue of a popular New York journal, in which were two closely 
printed columns filled with ribaldry, and pretending to be descriptive of the 
"last penny exhibition at Dodworth's Flail "' that is to say, the reporter 



542 HISTORY OF MODERN 

thus designated the Spiritualist's Sunday services, conducted by the pure^ 
eloquent, and amiable Mrs. E. J. Bullene, Avhose beauty, modesty, and genius, 
would have secured her at least a gallant and admiring notice from any man 
in any other part of the world than America. When questioned why this 
journal presumed to make the Sabbath exercises of the Spiritualists the sub- 
ject of grossly insulting criticism rather than that of any other religious denom- 
ination, the writer of the shameless article innocently expressed his astonish- 
ment at the Spiritualists' claim to be regarded as " a religious body," and al- 
leged that he had visited that meeting per order, to find something " funny," 
to enliven the heavy nature of a Sunday's report. 

Within the last four years the celebrated healer. Dr. Newton, after having 
performed a remarkable cure on a little girl afflicted with a spinal disease, 
dismissed her, when the child, in the exuberance of her delight at her sudden 
freedom from pain, stumbled, fell down stairs, and severely hurt her back. 

The father of the child, who could not forgive the mother for having her 
cured through what he called the "influence of the devil," made this fresh in- 
jury a pretext for arresting Dr. Newton on the charge of "assault and bat- 
tery," alleging that the injury, so clearly the result of the accident above 
named, grew out of "the charlatan's malpractices." The trial took place in 
Philadelphia ; and though the charge was altogether too absurd and far-fetched 
to be sustained, it produced some remarkable and unlooked-for consequences. 
Indignant at the attempt to malign their benefactor, over fifteen hundred 
witnesses came forward, and endeavored to press into court and bear their 
unsought testimony to the miraculous cures which the great physician had 
wrought in their several cases, many of which had been restorations of sight, 
hearing, the use of their limbs, and exemption from chronic and seemingly 
incurable maladies. The court, oppressed by the magnitude of this testimony, 
felt obliged to dismiss the case, and the Philadelphia papers, compelled, by 
way of public news, to print some of this magnificent testimony for the hrst 
time, made the excuse that their columns were too crowded to continue 
to print such a voluminous "mass of stuff!" In the face of this, and ex- 
amples of a similar kind, Mdiich would swell the well-attested cases of healing 
under direct spirit influence, during tvv^enty years only, to over one million, 
the legislature of Ohio, where healing mediums abound more than in any 
other State, have just passed a law which makes it necessary for "any one 
who practises medicine in any department, to have attended two whole courses 
of instruction, and graduated at some school of medicine, and also requires 
a good character;" the violation of this law incurs a penalty of "for the first 
offence, a fine of one hundred dollars, and for the second, in addition to the 
I fine, imprisonment in the county jail for the term of thirty days." 

^> This is the law of 1868 ; and by it, Dr. Newton, Mrs. Mettler, Drs. Bryant, 

Main, York, and hundreds of others who have done more in their generation 
T for the alleviation of the sick and afflicted than a whole college of surgeons 

|i could effect in a hrmdred years, are forbidden in Ohio to open the eyes of the 

"' blind, lay their hands on the sick, or, in a word, practise the fundamental 

charge of the founder of Christianity, and the chief cardinal sign of a Chris- 
tian's belief in Christ. 

Just as this work is passing through the press the author has received a 
letter from the highly gifted and beneficient healer, Dr. Newton, furnishing 
statements concerning the possibility of effecting cure sat a distance from the 

I operator. 

The circumstances are so thoroughly well-known and attested, and seem 
so apropos to the present chapter, that we make no apology for quoting the 
;( estimable writer's letter in full : 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 543 

"Newport, R. I., Nove7?ther 2, 1869. 

"Mrs. Emma HardingE: Dear Friend, — In my former letter I omitted to relate a 
few facts to demonstrate the truth of the power of healing and influencing persons at a 
distance. 

"While healing in S^Tacuse, New York, a stranger who had just been cured asked me il 
I would go to Fulton, New York, and care his wife, \vho had been bedridden for over three 
years, and unable to sit up during that time. I told him that I could cure her without see- 
ing her, as well as to go there ; and taking his right hand I said : ' Keep your thought upon 
your wife ; I will give her a shock like an electric battery, and ■with it her disease v/ill in- 
stantly leave : she will arise perfectly well, dress herself, call a witness and note the precise 
time, then walk out-doors. When you arrive home she will meet you at the door, and say, 
* Nathan, I am well now.' That is your name.^' 'Yes,' said he, 'my name is Nathan 
Rowley.' I had never seen him but a few moments and never heard his name before I 
called it. This was on Tuesday. I lectured m Oswego the next Sunday, when Mrs. Row- 
ley appeared in the audience and came upon the platform and related the wonder of her 
cure ; said she had never heard of healing at a distance before ; that she received a powerful 
shock, and felt that she was cured; she arose, noted the day and hour, and called a 
woman to witness what appeared to her a miracle. 

" This cure took place precisely at the same time that I eliminated the influence through 
her husband, and every word that was told him was verified by her. She came eleven miles 
to make a public statement of the facts, unsolicited. 

"Another case of interest : Mr. George Viner, of Galliopolis, Ohio, came with garments 
of invalids to have them cured, although several hundred miles distaiit. I eliminated a 
shock to each separately, willing their disease to depart. He then said, ' I have another 
friend sick, a consumptive, a Doctor Elliot, but I have no garment.' -I told him I could 
cure just as well without it, and taking his hand, said : 'He is walking on the street nozv ; 
he will feel a powerful shock this instant, and be perfectly cured, and further, he will 
see a man's hand.' At the same time I stretched forth my own hand and looked 
steadily at it. 

"After a lapse of time sufficient to hear the result, I had a letter from Mr. Viner, stating 
that each one had felt the shock and that «//were benefited, or cured; that he had also seen 
Doctor Elliot, who was very grateful for his cure ; that he was walking on the street when 
he felt the shock ; and that he distinctly saw the hand, but could not account for the 
vision. 

"Another: Mr. Charles E. Perry, who, I believe, is at present United States Minister to 
New Granada. Mr. Perry resided at Albany at the time. His only child was taken v.ath 
dysentery. He said to his wife, ' Our child can be saved if we can reach Nevv-port and see Dr. 
Newton.' They started, but on arriving at Worcester the child was so low they gave up 
nearly all hope, and could go no farther with it. But Mr. Peny started for Newport 
alone, to get me to go to Worcester. Reaching my house at about ten o'clock, p.m., and 
making his errand laiown, I told him I could cure the child better under the circumstances 
than if present. Taking his hand, I said, ' Your child is cured, and will this moment burst 
into a laugh ; and when you get to Worcester you will find your child running about the 
house as well as evei',' which he did, to his surprise, the next day ; and on inquiring of Mrs. 
Perry as to the cause of this marvellous change, she stated that, at a few minutes after 
ten, last evening, the child suddenly laughed, and was entirely well from that moment. 

"I could relate from memory multitudes of similar results of my daily practice in this 
way ; moreover, be assured, what I do, others can do. 

" Not only may the blessings of health, but happiness of mind, be the certain effect of 
this all-potent power. It is limitless as the universe. 

' ' Very sincerely your friend, 

"J. R. Newton, M.D." 

Hudson Tuttle, in writing to the Banner of Light shortly after the passage 



544 HISTORY OF MODERN 

of the Ohio bill against healing, comments on it in the following pungent 
and noteworthy remarks : 

** Jesus of Nazareth, were he on earth to-day, would not be tolerated at our State capi- 
tal. If he should cast the devils out of some Maiy Magdalene in the streets of Columbus, 
he would be fined ; and if he should raise up some dead Lazurus, he would go to the loclc- 
up. There are hundreds of healers in Ohio. Some of these, though un]cno\vn beyond their 
immediate locality, are equal to any in the power they possess over disease. They must 
now desist from these deeds of love, mercy, and blessing, or practice them in secret, and in 
fear of punishment for the crime of doing good. They are branded by the law which holds 
its broad shield over the heads of the anointed M.D.'s, who can go on in their course of 
blind empiricism, and kill legitimately under the cloak of medical science. 

" It is true, mediums sometimes fail to cure; but, are M.D.'s infallible? For every me- 
diumistic failure, I can show ten egregious blunders committed by the ignorance and conceit 
of those who, finding the people prefer the mediums, now seek to compel their own employ- 
ment by law, 

" There is another point in this law, if possible still more objectionable ; it is these words : 
' And also requires a good moral character ? ' 

" True, that sounds well ; but pray what is meant by a good moral character? Who is 
to'decide ? Where is the metre ? If it be in the decision of the judges who fram.ed this lav/, 
or the doctors, whom it is made to restore a fast-failing practice to, v/ill they allow that any 
Spiritualist could be a good moral character? 

" Spiritualism and infamy, with the prejudiced pai't of the community, have long been 
synonymous terms ; and since, in this age, it is impossible for any State government to pry 
into every man's life, and determine what amount of vice, or virtue, qualifies him to admin- 
ister a dose of rhubarb, some test will be, must be established, and of course this will be, 
and must be the long cherished and popular one of church membership ; an additional slice 
for the church, as well as the doctors. Oh, righteous law ! And so, if the M.D. be- 
longs to the church, he may kill scientifically, to his heart's content ; but an contraire, were 
he the founder of the Christian Church himself, without his diploma and papers of mem- 
bership, ' Away with him; he is a fellow not fit to live.' " 

We think we have written to little purpose, if in the course of this volume, 
but more especially in this and the preceding chapters, we have utterly 
failed to show some of the good that comes out of the Spiritualistic Nazareth. 

We must have been equally unsuccessful, if, even in the last few pages, and 
in the hasty contrast we have drawn between the inevitable march of events 
that is forcing a passage for the truths of Spiritualism, and the surly antag- 
onism that is laboring in every direction to drive them back, we have not 
shown some reasons why Spiritualism should not, or rather could not display 
the well organized and closely banded unity of other denominations, sects, 
and crafts, whose motto is conservatism ; who have been many centuries 
practicing it, and who unite chiefly in the laudable effort to crowd back the 
very results that they revile Spiritualism for not having acheived. Before the 
press indulges in contempt and insult, because Spiritualism offers "noth- 
ing new," let it acknowledge how persistently its columns have been closed 
against the admission of spiritualistic records. 

Before the world murmurs because the spirit medium does not cure every- 
body and everything, let it be informed how many have been cured by Spirit- 
ualism, and under what shameful disadvantages such beneficent labors are 
effected. Before the church sets up its cry of " Infidel," let it answer to what 
truth or Christian precept Spirituansm is infidel; who raises the cry of infi- 
del, and how it is proved. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 545 

Before the community joins further in the parrot cry, "What is the use of 
it ? " let them carefully inquire from those who have experienced its uses, not 
from the hireling crafts who are bought and sold by their interest to abuse it ; 
and before even Spiritualists themselves complain that the movement has not 
done enough, let them be sure that they are advised of all that it has already 
accomplished, and of all the reasons against, and the obstacles which intei-vene, 
to prevent its performing all that their impatience demands of it. An un- 
prejudiced review of the ground which the author and reader have trodden 
together, will prove that the triun)phs hitherto achieved by Spiritualism are 
altogether unprecedented and unparalleled in the course of human history. 

Considering the array of human effort that has been brought to bear against 
it, and the absence or weakness of the apostles, champions, leaders, founders, 
or propagandists who have originally helped to lay its foundations, we may 
truthfully conclude that the real sources of its strength have been invisible to 
mortals, and proceed from a higher, wiser, and more powerful realm than 
theirs. But even apart from the supra-mundane strength which has so mani- 
festly sustained the march of this mighty movement, we may clearly perceive 
that, with all the dying throes of bitter materialistic opposition, the signs of 
the times are slowly but surely changing in its favor. 

The shameless press ribaldry which we have noticed in this last chapter, 
is beginning to be the exception, rather than the rule of editorial conduct to- 
wards Spiritualism, and, when cited, is immediately accounted for, by the more 
respectable and respected portion of the press, by their pointing to the source 
of such attacks, and demanding what other treatment we could expect, and 
whether abuse from such quarters would not be a higher compliment tnan 
praise. 

As to the pulpit, we know it can no longer afford to indulge in the expen- 
sive luxury of cashiering church-members for their belief in Spiritualism. 
The ranks of denominational associations have grown so thin by this practice, 
that it has now become better, and certainly more remunerative policy, to 
steal the Spiritualists' thunder and preach their doctrines under the specious 
name of their own "ism," than to empty their meetinghouses by abusing the 
faith of two-thirds of their congregations. As to the schoolmen, the world 
which accords them the honor so justly their due, has become too much in- 
dividualized by American Republicanism and American Spiritualism, to bend 
at their authoritative nod any further than said schoolmen prove they are in 
advance of the world. 

The action of the journals who purvey fun and filth for the minds who re- 
quire it, and the legislatures who make laws to provide employment for un- 
skilful craftsmen, are equally well understood by the shrewd, quick-witted 
American people ; and though they may serve, as heretofore, the purpose of 
dragging Spiritualism into notoriety in periods of stagnation, it will, as hereto- 
fore, go no further, and will no more arrest its progress than the throne of 
Canute the Dane, placed on the sea-shore, could arrest the progress of the 
ocean's eternal and resistless tides. " On, on forever !" is the burden of that 
mighty anthem that rings through the corridors of eternity, chanted by the le- 
gions of Progress. Can the croak of the jester, the anathema of the priest, 
the dictum of the pedagogue, or the murmur of the ignorant and discontented, 
drown the great chorale ? 

As well expect that the shutter by which some human worm bars himself 
from out the sunlight can extinguish the sun's beam or quench the fires of 
Heaven. 

As for Spiritualism, whose ranks, mortal and immortal, make up the eternal 
35 



546 HISTORY OF MODERN 

army of progress, the pressure of its immense numbers, and ever increasing 
strength, together with the continually diminishing numbers and significant 
weakness of its antagonists, is necessarily producing a permanence and sta- 
bility in the movement which will permit concert of action, and afford oppor- 
tunity for the development of all those resources hitherto wasted in scenes of 
strife and efforts at defence. 

When Spiritualists can wisely combine their strength, and organize their 
forces on the largest and most indefeasible principles of individual liberty, we 
may anticipate and demand all the results which so vast a field of new powers 
can be expected to yield. Until then, we would kindly counsel our antago- 
nists to make themselves acquainted with at least as much of the subject they 
revile as these fragmentary pages can disclose, while our spiritualistic readers 
may learn from the same source, to hope, trust, and wait for " the good time 
coming." 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

" I beheld a golden portal in the vision of ray slumber, 

And from it streamed the radiance of a never setting day ; 
Whilst angels, tall and beautiful, and countless, without number. 

Were giving gladsome greeting to all who came that way. 
And the gate, forever swinging, made no grating, no harsh ringing. 

Melodious as the singing of one that we adore ; 
And I heard the chorus swelling, grand beyond a mortal's telling, 
And the burden of that chorus was Hope's glad word, ' evermore ! ' " 

Psalms of Life. 

Celebration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the " Rochester Knock- 
iNGs," March 31, 1868. 

Our history, or rather the surface review of that mighty and inscrutable 
movement whose sources of action lie hidden in the mysterious realms of 
another world, has reached that point beyond which the plan of the work pro- 
poses no advance. With this chapter we close the record of that brief score 
of years during which Spiritualism has been known as a fixed fact on the 
American Continent. 

Had the author of these pages been able to exert a unitary psychological 
influence over the wide extent of country which the history traverses ; could 
her voice have reached every Spiritualist of the land, or her most earnest 
wish have obtained from each a personal response, — she could scarcely have 
been more fortunate in securing compliance to her unexpressed desire in 
reference to the advent which closes alike the era of which she writes and 
the record here presented. 

In a word, the year which beholds the completion of this history is made 
memorable by the spontaneous and wholly unlooked-for gathering together 
of the whole spiritualistic community of America, each in their several States, 
— in a unity of feeling never before witnessed in the movement, — to cele- 
brate "the Twentieth Anniversary of the famous Rochester Knock- 

INGS." 

" The RECORt) of a Twenty Years' Communion Between Earth and 
the World of Spirits," a book undertaken solely at the command of the 
mighty invisible hosts v/hose achievements it celebrates, terminates with the 
triumphant entry that eleven millions of human beings who, twenty years 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 547 

ago, knew not the name of Spiritualism, nor aught of its vast and sublime 
significance, have, vAih one accord, and by no preconceived or organic con- 
cert of action on their part, united in setting the seal of the first national 
celebration on this great and memorable daj'. 

As v.-e have opened our fateful drama T\-ith the advent of the "Rochester 
knockings," inaugurated by three young and, until then, unknown persons, 
so let us drop the curtain on the same event proclaimed by the rejoicing lips 
of that little trio multiplied over tlu-ee millions of times. 

The children who formed two of the group have now blossomed into the 
maturity of womanhood. The third is a staid matron. But, in the score of 
years that have effected those alterations with them, what mightv^, unprece- 
dented, and incalculable changes have they seen growing out of the momen- 
tous event of which they Avere the radiative point, like the axis of some cen- 
tral sun, whose illuminating beams now enlighten an illimitible firmament! 

What an ocean of unparalleled power have they not seen surging in waves 
of irresistible influence over the old and new worlds, and all taking date, 
shape, and stamp, from the low knockings by which the angels announced 
tlieir presence in their humble dwelling at HydesAille ! 

Many an earnest spirit that then listened in breathless interest, and nobly 
erected the spiritual standard to re-echo those mystic sounds on earth, has 
passed from the form of mortality to the bright realms whose truths he once 
proclaimed. IMany a brave heart that then tlirobbed high, as its owner 
shouldered the cross of mart}^Tdom in defence of the new Messiah, has 
ceased to beat, hushed in the stillness of that eternal separation that sends 
the spirit from its mortal envelope. The harassed and persecuted parents 
of the Hydesville mediums have fallen in their tracks, and laid down for- 
ever the bitter burden whicli the ungrateful world put upon them in requital 
for the priceless evangel of immortality which their little ones proclaimed. 

A frightful and desolating war has ravaged the new world, changing the 
very foundations of its institutions, and speeding a million of its best and 
bravest into the realms of the imdsible. Legions of human beings, including 
priests, waiters, statesmen, and leaders of public opinion generally, have 
arrayed themselves into battalions of persecution, sworn to drive back the 
angeuc hosts into tlie mystery and silence fi-om whence they came. All has 
been in vain ! 

The opposing legions of the spiritual army have marched on from con- 
quest to conquest, in spite of death, change, war, or persecution; triumph- 
ing over every effort to arrest its progress, change its course, or affect the 
inscratable springs of its resistless machinery. The low knockings have 
swelled into a chorus of eleven miUion voices. 

The tiny rivulet has expanded into an ocean, whose stormy bUlows have 
beat on ever}'- shore of earth, and swept over every citv% town and hamlet. 
The humble frame dwelling at Hydes\-ille looms up into the proportions of 
a gigantic temple whose foundations are laid in the four corners of the earth, 
and the rough and rugged path which the bleeding feet of the Hydesville 
mediums seemed doomed to tread, amidst tears, shudderings, a.nd nameless 
horror, has now loomed out into the splendid proportions of the bridge 
which arches over the awful chasm of the grave, affording a transit for mil- 
lions of aspiring souls into the glorious realities of eternity, and erecting a 
telegraph whereby legions of enfrancliised spirits can transmit their mes- 
sages of undving affection, or their glad tidings of immortal life and eternal 
progress. Recall the impetuous rush of fevered life that has been so imper- 
fectlv crlanced at in this volume. 



548 HISTORY OF MODERN 

Remember that this brief score of years has seen the advent of a new re« 
hgion that has already shaken the foundations of human opinion to its centre, 
and planted the seeds of a new science, whose progressive unfoldments must 
revolutionize the entire realm of human knowledge. 

Count up the sick that have been healed, the seemingly dead that have 
been restored to the arms of desolate mourners. 

Number the homes that have been bereaved of the mortal, to be repeopled 
with the immortal. Think of the blind eyes that have been opened ; the 
stumbling feet that have been guided ; the sinking forms that have been up- 
held ; the broken hearts healed, the darkened minds illuminated. The 
criminal has been arrested in his carreer of perdition, and the promise has 
been fulfilled : " There shall be no more death ! " 

And in this brief summary, forget not the humiliating narrations of bigotry, 
persecution, ignorance, and wilful materiahsm, whose emissaries have so 
vainly opposed the march of the mighty movement, nor overlook the obvious 
instrumentality of the unseen hands which have outwrought fresh triumphs 
from every attempt to destroy their work. 

Above all, compare the insignificance of the means, and the humility of the 
origin, with the stupendous results and now invulnerable strength of Spirit- 
ualism, and declare, if you can, that aught but a sup et' -mundane power has 
been manifested in every act of this mighty drama. 

Truly, may we say with the prophet of Horeb, " Did ever people hear the 
voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as thou hast heard, and 
live?" 

If we point with a natural yearning for sensuous evidence to those persons 
through whom the first telegraphic message of this divine commission was 
executed, with special interest, it is not with a view to exalt them into the un- 
due prominence of leadership, or to identify them as the founders or leaders 
of a sect, but simply to call attention to the obviously supra-mundane char- 
acter of the work, by a comparison of its stupendous strength, with the ex- 
ceeding weakness of its human instrumentalities. 

We close our record, therefore, as we commenced it, by a recurrence to 
the scene and circumstances with which the movement seemed to originate, 
and avaiUng ourselves of the spontaneous feeling that appears to have ani- 
mated the entire spiritualistic community, terminate this portion of our work 
by a resume of the great national celebration of the Twehtieth Anniversary 
of the " Rochester knockings." 

If it may be objected that this festivity is of too recent a date for its repro- 
duction to interest the well-informed Spiritualist we answer that we write 
for those that come after us, and who may not enjoy our abundant means 
of information. 

To such, one of the most momentous and significant items of our imperfect 
record, must surely be the gathering together of eleven millions of persons in 
different sections of the country, to solemnize an era so fraught with the 
temporal and eternal interests of humanity, as that which inaugurated the 
opening of the telegraph between the mortal and immortal worlds. 

In the absence of any compendious report of this celebration, we shall quote 
passages from the excellent account of the various meetings in different States 
furnished by the Banner of Light. 

As the notice of the Rochester celebration held in Boston, is the fullest 
given, and may be taken as a noble and representative specimen of other 
gatherings, our extracts will be principally selected from tliat report. 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 549 

" APRIL 18, 1S68. 

"Anniversary of Modern Spiritualism — Grand Jubilee in Boston — Large 
Gathering OF Spiritualists in Music Hall — Lyceum Exhibition by Seven 
Hundred Children — Festivities of the Evening, consisting of Speeches 
BY Dr. H. F. Gardner, Mrs. Emma F. Jay Bullene, Seldon J. Finney, 
Prof. William Denton, and Mrs. Mary F. Davis — Poems by Lizzie Doten 
and Belle Bush — etc., etc. 

\_Reported for the Baniier of Light. "Y 
" The Lyceum Celebration.— The afternoon cf Tuesday, March 31, will be a season 
long kept green in the recollection of all who M'ere fortunate enough to be witnesses of, or 
participants in, the exercises of the various Children's Progressive Lyceums assembled on 
that day in Music Hall, Boston. To the believer in the spiritual philosophy, no sight could 
be more encouraging than those ranks of happy faces, givmg promise that the rising genera- 
tion is to take a bold and decided stand in days to come 

"The exercises of this occasion were a fitting prelude to those of the evening, and both 
were worthy, in the fullest sense, of the gi'eat cause they represented, and the anniversary 
they were designed to commemorate. Andrew Jackson Davis and his wife, Mary F. Davis, 
the founders and original managers of the lyceum movement, were present, and directed the 
afternoon entertainment. Dr. Richardson, conductor of the Charlestown Lyceum, assisted 
Mr. Davis ; and Mr. George W. Bragdon, assistant conductor of the same lyceum, acted as 
military director. 

"The Hall. — The balconies were tastefully decorated with mottoes, among which 
were : ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of folly.' — ' The love of the Lord is the be- 
ginning of msdom ' — * The stroke of death is but a kindly frost which cracks the shell and 
leaves the kernel room to genninate. What most consummate fools this fear of death hath 
made us ! ' — Shakspeare .• 

"Suspended from the speaker's desk was a banner inscribed, 'Upward and onward!' 
Nearest the doors leading to the Tremont Street entrance was posted the Boston Lyceum, 
and those of Charlestown, Chelsea, East Boston, and Cambridge filled the intervening space 
to the rostrum. The whole floor of the house was assigned to the children, and filled by 
them to overflowing. It is but justice, at this point, to allude to the beautiful targets dis- 
played by the Boston Lyceum, which were presented to it on Sunday, March 22, by Mr. J. 
Walcott, an artist of this city, who painted them at his own expense and gave them as a 
free-will offering — a good example for other artists to imitate. These targets, twelve in 
number, were valued at three hundred dollars, and were finely executed in oil colors. At 
the time of presentation, Mr. Walcott described his work as follows : 

"They represented the various groups by pictorial illustrations of an appropriate character 
upon each side, the subjects being varied to avoid repetition or monotony. Thus, the first 
group, — 

" ' Foimtain' was illustrated by a natural fountain gushing in its pristine purity from a 
group of rocks, with a party of children playing about it. On the reverse side was an 
elegant artificial fountain, with its numerous jets and showers sparkling in the glowing light 
of a summer sunset, surrounded by a garden of brilliant flowers and gorgeous foliage, with 
multitudes of the feathered tribe, instmct with animation, disporting themselves in its re- 
freshing spray. 

" 'Stream' was displayed by a waterfall among huge masses of rocks and precipitous walls 
of sunlit gi-anite. The opposite side represented a stream meandering through a green 
meadow, among the fresh foliage of spring, and falling into a rocky basin in the foreground. 

" • River ' was pictured by two charming views of a broader stream, winding its way 

"Through wood, and mead, and shade and sun," 
vtnder different effects of sunlight. 



550 HISTORY OF MODERN 

" ' Lake ' was expressed by an expanse of water surrounded by lofty eminences and precipi 
tous, woody hills, with a water party embarking for an excursion. The other side was a 
broad expanse of water surrounded by rich autumn foliage. A solitary deer served to give 
the picture sufficient animation. 

" ' Sea ' was depicted by a smooth surface of water with a dark sloop, relieved by a bright, 
sunny sky. A lighthouse on a reef of rocks and a few sea-birds sufficed to complete the 
picture. The other side represented the open sea — beyond dark, overhanging masses of 
arched rocks — against a sunset sky, with a sloop on the beach, of a distant point of land 
and marine craft in the extreme distance. 

" ' Ocean ' was expressed in two different ways, by atmospheric effects. One with a burst 
of sunlight through a stormy sky ; the other was a gorgeous golden and vermilion sunset, in 
admirable contrast with the deep sea-green of the vast watery desert below. 

" * Shore ' exhibited tli^ margin of the ocean with water-worn boidders, fragments of 
wrecked water-craft, etc. On the other side the most prominent objects were haystacks on 
a broad, salt-marsh, with a gi^oup of children gathering sea-sheUs. 

" ' Beacon ' displayed a lighthouse by night, gleaining through a foggy atmosphere. The 
reverse was a brilliant moonlight, with an ocean steamer under fuU headway toward a sea- 
port in the distance. 

" * Banner ' represented a rich, elegant banner, emblazoned with the sentence, — 

" Eternal progression — 
Onward and upward forever ! " 

" The opposite side was an immense procession with innumerable banners stretching far 
away into the dim perspective of distance. 

'• ' Star' displayed a large golden star, radiant with light, among other golden and silver 
stars, on a deep azure sky. The reverse represented a floating spirit in the atmosphere, 
with a single silver star on its forehead, surrounded by stellar constellations. 

" ' Excelsior ' represented the youth bearing a flag with the ' strange device,' plodding his 
weary way through a snow-storm toward the summit of an icy mountain. Suggested by 
the incident in Longfellow's poem of this title. 

*' The other side represented the youth as having gained the summit of the icy peak, — 
without being frozen to death as in the poem, — where he beheld a vast landscape spread out 
before him, with mountain and valley, lake and river, hill and dale, forest and meadow in 
measureless expanse. A balloon in the sky served to hint that however high we ascend, 
there is ever a point loftier still to be attained. 

" ' Liberty' represented a large liberty cap, radiant with light. The reverse side displayed 
an immense eagle with expanded wings over a wild, rugged tract of country, where all is in 
a state of natural freedom. 

•' The general outline of these targets is a great improvement on the simple oval form 
previously used, with a glided ornament at the base, and scarlet tassel, serving to conceal 
the junction of the target with the staff, at the same time being an elegant ornament. The 
summit of each target is crowned by a winged cherub, the features painted to express the 
progressive ages of the groups, — Foitntain being quite juvenile, Slream a little older, while 
Excelsior and Liberty are more advanced in life. 

"The Procession. — Escorted by a platoon of police, and Hall's full band, this in- 
itial army of progress left the hall by the Tremont Street entrance, passed down that 
street to the Common, up Park Street and Beacon Street malls, and across to Tremont 
Street, entering the hall at the Vv'inter Street entrance. Everywhere the fine display of 
banners, flags, and happy faces beaming with the exuberance of health, attracted the at- 
tention and admiration of all. The balmy breeze of an early spring day seemed fresh from 
the portals of the summer-land, and the warm sun smiled on the youthful i)ioneers of 
reform. 

*' The Boston Lyceum took the lead. It numbered, two hundred membei"s. Its board 
of officers were as follows, etc 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 551 

" The large numbers and fine marching of this lyceum atti-acted general attention. 
Their banner, painted and presented to them by Mr. J. Walcott, bore the inscriptions : 
'First Spiritualist Association, Boston; organized August 31, 1867.' — 'God is Love.' 
— 'Purity, Truth, Progress.' 

"Next in order came the Charlesto\\Ti Lyceum, which turned out with full ranks. This 
lyceum bore the motto, ' The truth against the world.' We congratulate our Charlesto%vn 
friends on their fine appearance. 

" The Chelsea Lyceum followed in the order of march. The date ' 1866,' was inscribed 
on its banner ; it also displayed an American flag, having in gilded letters around its outer 
stripes, * Our country borders on the spirit land. ' 

" The East Boston Lyceum followed. A banner was carried in the ranks of this society, 
inscribed, 'Children's Progressive Lyceum, organized July 7, 1S67, East Boston.' On the 
obverse, 'Let integrity and uprightness preserve us.' ' Maverick ' has reason to be proud 
of her delegation on that day. 

" The Cambridgeport Lyceum, only three weeks old, closed the procession ; its numbers 
were large, and its marching excellent, considering fhe brief time it had been in exist- 
ence 

"Return to the Hall. — On the conclusion of the march, which was attended at aU 
points by crowds of eager spectators, the procession retmrned to the hall, and commenced the 
indoor exercises. These consisted of, — 

" I. Song, by the lyceums — * Our Lyceum, 'tis,' etc. 

"2. Silver chain recitations — 'Invocation,' and 'Gratitude' — Nos. i and 2, Manual, 
led by Miss M. A. Sanborn, of the; Boston Lyceum. 

"3. Speaking, by one member from each lyceum. 

"4. Gymnastics, including ' wing movements,' led by Dr. Richardson, of the Charlestown 
Lyceum. 

"5. Speaking [2d course], by one from each lyceum. 

"6. Song by the lyceums, ' Sweet Summer Land.' : 

"7. Speaking [3d course]. 

" 8. Grand Banner March, accompanied by Hall's band, to the 

"9. Collation. 

" Where all did so nobly, it is invidious to institute comparisons, either in the manage- 
ment of the lyceums, their appearance, or the conduct and success of their speakers. 

" The silver-chain recitations and singing were rendered with unity and great effect ; the 
gymnastic exercises were of a highly interesting character, and the grand banner march from 
the hall to the collation was beautiful in the extreme. 

"A bountiful supply of the substantial 'good things' having been enjoyed at the tables in 
Bumstead Hall, the children were dismissed to their homes. While memory remains, the 
influence of such scenes as these imprinted on the plastic heart of childhood will remain also 
to cheer the path of after-life. The coming generation, like our own, may be called to pass 
through trying scenes. The time may come when ' The youths shall faint and be wear)', and 
the young men shall utterly fail; " but let them not be discouraged, for we are promised that 
' they that wait on the truth shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as 
eagles; they shall run and not be weary ; they shall walk and not faint.' In conclusion, 
we desire to congratulate all connected with the lyceum movement upon the perfect harmony 
of action and complete success which crowTied their efTorts at this anniversary." 

"The Evening Exercises. — The evening meeting at Music HaU was called to order 
at 7.30 o'clock, by Dr. H. F. Gardner, who said: 

" 'As chairman of the committee of an-angements, I gi"eet you, friends, and congratulate 
you upon the glorious success which has attended this public celebration, in the city of Bos- 
ton, of the advent of modem Spiritualism. [Applause.] The gi-and number of our little 
'army of progress,' which assembled this afternoon, with only a very short time to prepare 
themselves, I think, will show those of our opponents who have looked upon Sphitualism as 




552 HIS TOR V OF MODERN 

something that was of the past, that it is still living, that it has an immortal life, and that it 
will continue to gi^ow and thrive. 

" ' Many persons do not know the history of spiritual manifestations, and I have thought 
that the most appropriate thing I could do, in opening these exercises, would be to state the 
reason why we celebraed this 31st day of March as the anniversary of spirit manifestations in 
this century. I hold in my hand a book published some years ago by Mr. Capron, which 
contains a statement given by Mrs. Fox, the mother of the young ladies who were the first 
mediums through whom intelligence was distinctly and publicly transmitted between the 
spirit-world and our own. Many persons have thought it was exceedingly doubtful whether 
we could fix the time. I am perfectly aware that in England, as early as 17 16, the Wesley 
family had spirit manifestations very similar to those of our day, but they were not recognized 
as such, and through want of proper questioning, their true character failed to be ascertained, 
and the manifestations finally ceased. The Salem witchcraft, falsely so called, was doubtless 
another instance of an attempt by spirits to communicate intelligence to those living upon 
the earth. Our friend and brother, Andrew Jackson Davis, who is upon this platform, some 
3'ears previous to the manifestations in Hydesville, was the subject of spirit control, and in 
his clairvoyant state predicted that these manifestations would occur at a certain time. — 
which prophecy was fulfilled. Swedenborg's manifestations were of a similar character. 
And so, without dwelling upon the subject, in all past ages of the world these manifestations 
have been known upon the earth, but through the ignorance, bigotry, and superstition 
which prevailed, an intelligent hearing was not gi-anted to the invisibles, who came back to 
iiiform us of their well-being in the life which is to come and which is ; and it was not until 
this nineteenth century, on the 31st day of March, in the year 1848, that the first intelligent 
manifestations were made, which have given rise to the wonders that have been witnessed 
all over the world.' " 

It would be unnecessary, indeed a mere reiteration of the statements con- 
tained in the earlier portion of this volume, to reprint the rest of Dr. Gard- 
ner's address, which consisted chiefly of extracts from Mr. Capron' s work on 
the early manifestations, and vivid comments on the sufferings endured by 
the unfortunate Fox family, from the ignorance and bigotry of their perse- 
cutors. The report proceeds as follows : 

" The chairman then read the following telegrams, and stated that appropriate replies 
had been transmitted by the committee of arrangements : 

"'Cleveland, Ohio, March 31, 186S. 
" ' To H. F. Gardner, Music Hall: 

" * The Spiritualists of Cleveland, Ohio, to those of Boston : The West to the East, 
greeting : One in action to-day, one in country, one in purpose, one in progress, and 
one in destiny. 

" • Cleveland Society of Spiritualists. 

" « By T. Lees, Secretary.' 

" 'Chicago, III., March 31, 1S6S. 
" ' To H. F. Gardner, Boston : 

" ' We are having a glorious time. Send you a kindly greeting. 

" * J. Spettigue. 
" 'Crosby Music Hall.' 

" The following are the replies : 

*' ' Boston, March 31, 1868. 
" ' To T. Lees, Secretary Spiritualist Anniversaty, Cleveland, Ohio, Garrefs Hall : 

" ' Three thousand assembled send greeting ! Spiritualism triumphant ! A glorious 
future awaits us. 

" ' H. F. Gardner, Chairman.' 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. ' 553 

*• 'Boston, March 31, 1868. 
" * To y. Spetllgtte, Chairman Spiritualist Anniversary, Crosby'' s Music Hall, Chicago : 
" ' The East sends gi^eeting to the West. Three thousand assembled in Music Hall ; one 
^vith you in principle, one in action, one in destuiy ! 

"'H. F. Gardner, Chairman.'" 

A number of eloquent speeches, and several very interesting poems, en- 
livened the festivities of this interesting meeting, but their length and special 
adaptation to the circumstances of the hour, render their insertion here 
inappropriate. The closing exercises of this memorable evening were as fol- 
lows : 

At the temiination of a charming address from Mrs. Maiy F. Davis, the 
chairman rose and said : 

"I believe in promptitude, and in living up to exactly what we promise. We have 
something to do before we can enter upon the dancing, and we must therefore consider our 
speaking exercises as closed. We will now conclude by singing the grand ' Hallelujah 
Chorus. ' The song will be sung by a quartette of ladies and gentlemen who have kindly 
volunteered, and the audience are requested to jom in the chorus. Let us make this hall 
ring as it never did before. Let us lift the very roof off: 

" 'Grand Hallelujah Chorus. 

Composed in spirit-life by John Pierpcmt, and given by Miss Lizzie Dotett, 

We have come unto the mountain, and the city of our God, 
To the ways of truth and beauty by the souls perfected trod. 
And the resurrection trumpet shall not wake us from the sod. 
As we go marching on. 

Glory, glory. Hallelujah ! 
Glory, glory, Hallelujah ! 
Glory, glory, Hallelujah ! 
, As we go marching on. 

Brealc the bread of consolation to the souls oppressed with care. 
For in our Father's mansions there is bread enough to spare. 
And none need faint with hunger, whUe we have such blessed iar^ 
As we go marching on. 

Chorus. 

Bind up the broken-hearted and confirm the feeble knees. 
For the Kingdom has been opened to the least of such as these, - 
And we need not ask St. Peter to be ready with his keys. 
As we go marching on. 

Chorus. 

Set the little children marching, with their banners in their hands. 
And drill them into service with the brave old veteran bands. 
Till the tramping of our army shall be heard in distant lands. 
As we go marching on. 

Chorus. 

The thunders of Progression are shaking tj'rants' thrones ; 
The breath of inspiration wakes " the valley of dry bones ; " 
The ancient altars crumble and the*' King of Terror " groans. 
As we go marching on. 

Chorus. 

Then shout your loud Hosannas to the lands beyond the sea. 
Till the people of all nations are through the truth made fre^ 
And join the swelling chorus in our song of Jubilee, 
As we go marching on. 

Chorus.' 

" This fine song was sung m a very spirited manner by the quartette, the audience join, 
ing heartily and enthusiastically in the chorus. 

After the reading of an exquisite and appropriate poem by Miss Belle Bush, 
the talented principal of the Bdvidere Seminary, — who, unable to be .present 
herself, sent her "New Evangel" as her representative, — the chairman dis- 
missed the meeting, when the exercises recommenced v [th — 



554 HISTORY OF MODERN 

"The Dancing Festivities. — The hour of ten having arrived, those who had been en- 
joying an intellectual feast for three hours gave way for the more exhilarating exercise of 
dancing. The floor of the hall was cleared, swept, and ready for use in twenty minutes. 
The order of dances was carried through in excellent style, with no confusion or loss of time, 
under the efficient management of J. H. Conant and his aids, Messrs. G. Picket, J. Camp- 
bell, and B. R. Drew. Music by Hall's full band. The entire list of twelve dances was 
completed promptly at one o'clock ; and all retired evidently well pleased with the festivities 
of the long-to-be-reraembered evening." 

We are indebted to the Banner of Light also for preserving some of the 
notices of the secular press, which, in the same spirit of liberality and refine- 
ment which has characterized the journalistic literature of Boston toward Spir- 
itualism throughout its tempestuous career, reported the proceedings in an 
honorable and respectful tone every Vv^ay worthy of the occasion. The follow- 
ing is an extract from the account of the Morning Post : 

"In the evening the vast and beautiful hall presented a most animated appearance, 
thronged as it was with one of the most brilliant audiences that ever assembled within its 
walls. 

" The exercises were of a very interesting character and consisted in the earlier part of the 
evening of addresses interspersed with music. 

"The audience also united in singing two original hymns, which were distributed in 
printed form through the hall. 

" At ten o' clock the main floor was cleared for dancing, and from that hour till one in the 
morning the saltatory feature of the entertainment was entered into with great zest and 
gayety by the greater portion of the company present The spacious balco- 
nies were crowded to repletion with spectators. 

"As a whole, the celebration will be long remembered as one of the most pleasant and in- 
teresting events of modern Spiritualism. 

The celebration of this famous anniversary in New York City, lacked 
many of the features of interest which more concrete organized action, and 
the presence of numerous children's lyceums, gave to the Boston festivity. 
Nevertheless, if it was found wanting in numerical strength and the general 
interest which might have been expected in this famous stronghold of the 
cause, it presented one feature of peculiar distinction, from the presence of 
two of theFox sisters, or original Rochester mediums. 

The New York reporter for the Banner of Light gives the following brief 
summary of the proceedings : 

" The Celebration in New York. — Notwithstanding the short notice and hastily 
made arrangements, the twentieth anniversary of the ' Rochester knockings ' drew out an 
assembly on the eve of the 31st ult., at the Everett Rooms, which is admitted, on all hands, 
to have been the most appropriate and respectable, and one of the largest ever congregated 
in New York by the subject of Spiritualism. Every part of the performance was a com- 
plete success, and gave general satisfaction, several parts eliciting the highest expression of 
appreciation ; such especially was the case with the exquisitely fine performance of Prof. 
Watson on the violin and his niece on the piano, the audience seeming unwilling to release 
them after recalling them to the stage, although other parties and performances were press- 
ng for time. Mrs. Adams and daughter, whose music enriches the meetings of the society 
every Sunday, were also appreciated by their old and new auditors.- 

" Of each part and performer we cannot afford to speak separately ; but of the general 
supervision and management of Mr. P. E. Farnsvvorth, we must say it was as complete and 
perfect as opportunity would allow. Two of the original ' Fox girls' were on the platform, 



AMERICAlSr SPIRITUALISM, 555 

and the raps were heard by most of the audience [Margaret was engaged, and did not 
arrive in time for the first part of the exercises]. The Herald oi next day, with its usual long 
rigmarole of manufactured nonsense, was compelled to admit the respectability of the au- 
dience, but threw out its slurs on the last part of the performance by Mr. and Miss Watson, 
which the whole audience, except the Herald reporter, appreciated. 

" The original poems were sublime specimens of the inspiration of our day. The one 
delivered by N. F. White, and the other by Dr. F. L. Willis, we hope to see in pi'int, and 
preserved in the history of spiritual literature, as rich specimens of inspirational Spirit- 
ualism. 

" The supper was good to those who ate it, the dance to those who enjoyed it, the sur- 
plus funds to the society that needed it, and the whole evenuig, one long to be remembered 
by the party that enjoyed it." 

Although our hmited space compels us to omit any other extended notices 
of the vast and interesting assemblages which congregated all over the States 
to do honor to this momentous anniversary, we cannot forbear calling the 
reader's attention to a brief synopsis of the celebration at Rochester, and a 
few extracts from the addresses of those well-tried and long-suftering cham- 
pions of the cause, Isaac and Amy Post, whose noble part and testimony in 
the early days of martyrdom endured at Corinthian Hall, the first chapter 
of this volume has fully recorded. 

"THE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM IN ROCHESTER, 

NEW YORK. 

" The meeting convened at lo o'clock, A. M., the hall being nearly filled with persons pres- 
ent from adjoining towns and counties, as well as from the city, all of whom were appar- 
ently in earnest, and intent on doing honor to the occasions that had called them together. 
Mr. Edward Jones, of Rochester, chairman of the committee of arrangements, called the 
meeting to order, and spoke substantially as follows : 

"'Ladies and Gentlemen, — There seems to have been a spontaneous movement 
throughout this country, in regard to holding an anniversary meeting in commemoration of 
the advent of modern Spiritualism. It is now twenty years since this startling phenomenon 
made its appearance among us in this city, and in this short space of time it has become 
luiown nearly throughout the civilized world. Converts to this faith and philosophy are 
now numbered by millions. No system of philosophy or religion has ever made such rapid 
strides. Spirits gave me the assurance, in some of the first communications received, that 
those manifestations would continue to spread, and ultimately fill the whole earth. I had 
full faith in those promises then, and have seen nothing since to shake my belief in their ful- 
filment. There is a perennial fountain in the celestial spheres, from which emanate mag- 
netic cords which are ever ready to twine around receptive minds, leading them up higher. 
We have reason to hope that the light emanating from the spirit spheres will ultimately 
dispel the darkness and superstition which have so long enshrouded the world.' 

" The following of&cers were appointed : 

^'President — Charles W. Hebard. 

" Vice Presidents — Isaac Post, Mrs. S. D. Fish, Dr, A. 0ms, Mrs. A. Post, George 
WiUits, Edward Jones, Mrs. L. Scott, Rev. A. H. Jervis, Mrs. J. Watson, Schuyler Mo- 
ses, L. Burtis, J. W. Seaver, Mr. English, Mr. Chamberston, Mr. Whitmore." 

It will be perceived that several of the earliest and most faithful witnesses 
to the truth of the manifestations were here present ; and when we remember 
the vast amount of moral courage and faith in divine guidance it must have 
required, either to avow the bitterly proscribed faith in Spiritualism, or to 
test the new and unknown power of "the spirits" in 1848, we beheve the 



556 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

reader ,vill rejoice to recognize the names of Isaac and Amy Post, George 
Willits, Rev. A. H. Jervis, Mr. and Mrs. Biirtis, etc., once more appearing 
on a Rochester spiritual platform, after a lapse of twenty eventful years. 

At the close of a deeply interesting and minute account of the early mani- 
festations in Rochester, narrated by Mr. Isaac Post, the report proceeds as 
follows : 

"The well-known reformer and philanthropist of the last quarter of a century, Mrs. 
Amy Post, of Rochester, was solicited to give in her testimony of early experiences, etc. 
She addressed the audience in a very candid and impressive manner, giving a highly inter- 
esting history of the Corinthian Hall investigation, which occurred some eighteen or 
nineteen years ago. The meeting requested a copy for publication, which was acceded to, 
and the following was furnished, which has since appeared in the columns of the Democrat: 

"'Thousands have been made happier by the knowledge gained through these spirit 
communings ; they have learned the certainty of a conscious future existence, and also that 
the purer and more unselfishly we live here, the better pi-epared we are for Joy and useful- 
ness in the higher and ever progi-essive realm of spirit life. 

" ' Hence it is well that we should meet here with thanksgiving to the dear angels, and 
thanksgiving to the Fox family, through whose united agency these blessings first came to 
us and the world. 

" ' I was acquainted with this family long before the appearance of these extraordinary 
♦ Rochester knockings,' so called in derision. Jolin and Margaret, the parents of these 
medium daughters, were of German and French extraction, and members of the Methodist 
church; and oh! how earnesty did they daily imite in vocal prayer, "that if this thing was 
of the devil, that it might be removed from them!" but if of God, they resolved to bear all 
the scorn, derision, and persecution that might be heaped upon them. 

"'I often feel that the extraordinary fidelity and unselfish devotion to this unpopular 
truth of the Fox family has never been justly appreciated by Spiritualists. 

" 'The sacrifices which they made to this cause can never be told. The eldest daughter, 
now Mrs. Underbill, of New York City, I deem worthy of our special gratitude. She, 
being a housekeeper here in our city, soon after this great wonder became Imown, had one 
or the other of her medium sisters with her constantly ; and without any compensation 
whatever pecuniarily, she generously opened her doors, and she and her sisters devoted 
nearly all their time to investigators ; and her house was thronged from early morning till 
late at night. Notwithstanding all this kindness she was often, to my certain knowledge, 
treated by both men and women with the most cruel and insulting accusations of fraud and 
deception. 

" 'In process of time, having laid all her means of support upon this unpopular altar, 
and being actually reduced to penury and want, some of her friends proposed to her to 
take a fee ; that it was not self-justice to starve herself in her effort to feed the hungry 
souls of others. But she invariably replied, that, "we cannot now convince the people 
that we do not do this of ourselves ; and if we ask compensation they surely will not be- 
lieve." Thus they struggled on, until the " Rochester knockings" gained here a name and 
a habitation. It was here that it was reduced to the science of letters, and here where it 
was first taken before a public audience for investigation, and where mob violence sought 
to put it do^vn and drive the mediums from the city. 

'"Taking this phenomena before the public was instigated and managed entirely by the 
direction of spirits, made known through the use of the alphabet. When the names of 
the seven whom they had chosen to be actors in this scene were announced, two of whom 
were to have the management, and five to sit upon the platform with the mediums, I msh 
my hearers could have seen the consternation and embarrassment that was depicted upon 
every countenance. To be asked to go into Corinthian Hall, before a public audience of 
people who almost universally looked upon this whole thing as a humbug, fraud, and vile 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 557 

deception, with that timid young girl, Margaretta Fox [now Mrs. Kane], was felt by all to 
be a great thing, but we loiew there was a truth there, which we all wished to have investi- 
gated. Our noble friend here, Rev. Mr. Jervis, who felt, perhaps, that he had a larger 
crown to lay upon this altar than any of us, was the first to step forward and say, "I am 
not afraid to face a frowning world." This settled the question with all the others. In this 
transaction we followed the direction of spirit friends, in every minutice, through the three 
days' and evenings' examinations. On the fourth evenijng the audience, regardless of all 
remonstrances, took the whole management in their own hands. They appointed Josiah 
Bissel, Esq., chairman, who, of course, conducted the meeting in a way to suit the ex- 
cited and indignant people. I could name doctors and gentlemen of wealth and standing 
in Rochester who joined in raising a mob, from whose violence it became necessary to call 
upon a posse of city officers to rescue this innocent, timid girl, in her early teens, and hei 
elder sister [who had not as yet been developed as a medium, but always accompanied her], 
to a house of safety, for they did not dare go to their home. 

" ' When it wasi'umored that this committee had been no more successful than the others, 
the excitement became intense. 

•' ' The committee having become satisfied of the integi-i:y of the girls, and their sympathy 
being excited by the tlnreatening indications, earnestly desired to be permitted to occupy 
the platform with us, saying that the assailants should only reach us over their dead bodies. 

" ' Few, I think, can realize the trepidation and nervous excitement induced by these con- 
ditions. On reaching home, Margaretta had decided not to go to the hall that evening. I 
said, " We M'ill go by ourselves, and sit down quietly and see how we shall feel about it." 
Her sister Leah soon said, *' Amy, if you will go I will go with you, if I go to the stake ! " 
Margaretta did not change her mind until about time to go, when she said, " I cannot 
have you go without me. I must go, though I expect to be killed." With this fearful 
prospect before us, we went. When we arrived at the hall we found the faithful seven all 
there, four men and three women, in their allotted places. But, as I said before, the pop- 
ulace took control of the meeting, and when the report of the committee indicated adversely 
to their anticipations and hopes, as each member of the other committees had done, they 
interrupted the proceedings and continued to do so, although one of them said he should 
stand there until the next morning if he was not permitted to make his report. But stamp- 
ing, shrieking, and all kinds of hideous noises, together with explosions of torpedoes in 
every part of the audience, obliged him to desist. About this time the audience came in a 
tumultuous rush toward and upon the platform ; a grand melee ensued, and amid the con- 
fusion we left, escorted, as before stated, by the police-justice and others to a place of 
safety. Subsequently the meeting passed a resolution admonishing the medium and her 
sister to leave the city in twenty-four hours, to which, of course, they paid no heed, except 
that they did not deem it safe to go to their own home for several days. Soon after this 
public investigation, the elder sister, Leah, became a superior medium for rapping, speak- 
ing, writing, and seeing. 

" ' My friends, I have given this somewhat minute histoiy of the external and outward man- 
ifestations of early Spiritualism, to the truth of which I can testify, for I have stated noth- 
ing but what my eyes saw and my ears heard. We value them for the reason that they 
have led us to a higher and diviner conception of spirit consciousness and spirit light within 
ourselves, which, if listened to, will lead and guide us in paths of wisdom and goodness. 

"And now, behold ! from these simple sounds, and the wisdom and power that gave them, 
has gone forth the knowledge that hath enlightened millions, and brought them from the 
valley and shadow of death, where they fear no evil, for they Imow the eternal power of 
the universe is light and strength to all nations.' 

" Lewis Burtis gave at length the history of his investigations, in which testimony of cor- 
roboration was given regarding his astonishment as well as conviction of the genuineness of 
spirit rappings in houses, also on sidewalks of brick, etc. , and very many personal tests of 
spirit pov.er, presence, and of their individuality in particulai'. He also spoke of the great 
consolation Spu-itualism gave him, in robbing the grave of its victory and death of its 



558 HISTORY OF MODERN' 

sting ; that he had no fear of the coming dissolution of his outer, well-worn garment. He 
spoke earnestly, and carried conviction to tlae minds of his hearers that all he said he 
meant. 

" Mrs. S. A. Burtis was then called upon. She said she had not put anything into 
form, but would relate a few facts and phases of spirit manifestations given in her presence, 
and mostly at her own house. The first rap was heard in 184S, carrying conviction, and 
sweeping away the deep prejudices against the mediums and their manifestations. Many 
and deep were the trials and persecutions that arose on every hand toward believers. Many 
and various were the forms of manifestations that soon in quick succession appeared — 
writing, trance speaking, etc. ; whilst the following form of manifestation showed more 
conclusively than any other the power of spirits to clear away the dark mist of scepticism 
from unbelievers. At a circle in Rochester, in 1858, J. F. Coles, medium, of New York, 
entranced, prophesied that Miss Mary Comstock would have mediumship developed at some 
future day. Mrs. Burtis then took Mary to her house, and the following are a few of the 
many communications which appeared on her arm in beautiful and legible characters : 

" For Dr. R. T. Hallock, of New York, these words upon Mary's naked arm appeared : 
' Glorious are your good works on earth. Let your light shine.' 

"For Fred. Douglass, who was also present, appeared a kneeling slave chained to a 
post, with these vs^ords : ' A poor old slave.' 

" At another time a company of ladies, with one gentleman, from New York, called to 
witness this phase of manifestations. A line of characters appeared upon the arm of Mary, 
which none of us could decipher, until the gentleman was asked if he could tell. He replied 
he could ; that it was the name of a masonic brother who died twenty years before, given 
in the masonic alphabet. 

"At One time, after passing through severe trials, the following was given to Mrs. Burtis: 

" ' Dear Sarah, — 

When thou layest down thy weary head, calmly sleeping, 
Guardian angels near thy bed," watch are keeping.' 

"The following, from the spirit of a grandchild, who had been freed from its body but a 
short time, also appeared on her arm : 

• 

" ' Oh, that I was where I would be. 
Then I'd be where I am not ; 
Here I am where I must be. 
And where I would be I cannot. — Charles Burtis.' " 

Trusting that our readers will sympathize with -this final repetition of an 
oft-told tale for the sake of the honored narrators and the deeply interesting 
time and place of the narratives, we close our notice of the Rochester cele- 
bration with the following remarks of the reporter : 

" The celebration has excelled the most sanguine expectations of the friends, and is calcu- 
lated to produce a lasting and beneficial result for the cause. The best of feeling prevailed 
throughout the entire exercises. The local newspapers gave a very candid statement 
of proceedings." 

"We must now conclude our notices of these deeply interesting gatherings. 
As the Boston account includes more full details than any other in print, we 
have selected that as our representative notice. Rochester too is especially 
.reported as being the Mecca to which all hearts were turned on this most im- 
portant anniversary, whilst the presence of the good pioneers above alluded 
to, made the occasion of the deepest and most touching interest. We would 
gladly have availed ourselves of a more voluminous account of the New 



AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 559 

York celebration from the fact that it was solemnized by the sounds of the 
same thrilling raps that twenty years ago, through the organisms of Margaret 
and Catherine Fox, awoke the nineteenth century to its great millennium. 
The presence of these ladies alone made the anniversary celebration ir 
New York a scene of unequalled interest. 

For the rest, it would be impossible, as it is unnecessary, to continue 
a more detailed account of these great national gatherings. Suffice it to say 
that they were observed with incidents of special and local interest in every 
large city and many of the smaller towns, in almost every State of the Union, 
and besides reawakening in the hearts of believers a reverend and gi-ateful 
memory of the mighty work that has been wrought for them, manifestly 
" tlirough the dispensation of angels," this anniversary must have impressed 
the sneering and incredulous world with a forcible realization of the stupend- 
ous growth, power, and numerical strength which modern Spiritualism has 
attained. Surely, as the now open eyes of strangers looked upon the vast 
masses of humanity flocking up to the angelic standards, beheld the signs of 
organic strength, true brotherhood, and childlike faith in spiritual guidance, ex- 
hibited by these masses ; but above all, as he looked upon that most signifi- 
cant of all witnesses, namely, the parent leading forward the young child in 
the path of his own discovery ; or, as he contemplated with prophetic eye, 
what must be the result of the thronging legions of youth thus early instructed 
in the sublime truths of Spiritualism, when the impressions of childhood shall 
become matured by the judgment of manliood, — must not such a spec- 
tacle have compelled the query in each reflective mind, " If the begin- 
ning is thus mighty, what must its future become, and where will be the 
end ? " 

Our volume closes, but for our subject, "end there is none." 

" Eternity is its only limit. 
Infinity its only span." 

The biographical sketches of mediums and prominent Spiritualists ; notices 
of books, journals, and spiritual literature generally; descriptions of classified 
phenomena, together with a summary of the religion, science, and philosophy 
of the movement, on all departments of which we have an immense abun- 
dance of untouched material, — • all this must be reserved for a forthcoming 
work, which we trust to be shortly able to present to our readers as an appen- 
dix and supplement to this history. 

We laad set out with the intention of condensing all these important fea- 
tures of the movement within the limits of one book ; but our subject has 
grown under our hands, and still transcends our utmost ability to grapple 
with, even in a tithe of its gigantic proportions. 

In view of the magnitude of our undertaking and the narrow boundaries 
which circumstances impose upon human efforts, we might cast aside in des- 
pair and humiliation any pen that attempted to measure its capacity with the 
value or extent of the record it essayed to transcribe ; but a part of the phil- 
osophy upon which Spiritualism rests is, that nothing in the universe is 
ever really lost ; and so, in the divine economy of being, every act, thought, 
word, written or unwritten, spoken or unexpressed, though lost to sight and 
memory in the whelming floods of human oblivion, is still, in God's Provi- 



560 ■- HISTORY OF MODERN" 

dence, incorporated into the great sum of existence ; takes its place and 
performs its functions as an atom in the eternal laboratories of creation, where 
"He gathers up the beautiful." 

In this divine storehouse of reserved and treasured forces, then, will be found 
and ultimately outwrought into good and use, every item which our feeble 
pen has failed to chronicle, and with it, all the measureless aspirations and 
grateful purposes which stimulated the scribe to this undertaking, and com- 
pelled her, in humble adoration of the Great Supreme Spirit, and astonished 
gratitude for the labors of his ministering angels, to offer even this tribute 
of her worship and love, and make this incomplete attempt to gather up the 
fragments of heavenly food with which countless multitudes have been sus- 
tained during the twenty years' dispensation on earth of Modern American 
Spiritualism. 



A 



I 



i^^ 



} 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



< 



